2006 Tampa Bay Marathon...who's up for it?

OK here's the plan. I have decided to take some vacation time and run in the Gasparilla Marathon in Tampa Florida on February 26th next year. Renee has graciously agreed to join me in this event, and it will be her very first marathon. She's probably both excited and scared, thinking "What have I gotten myself into...I'm not a runner?" but nevermind the details. We can take care of that. We all have to start somewhere, and the goal is to get both her and myself through this AND enjoy the experience. Along the way, we're going to make her feel good about herself, her body, and her ability to perservere and tackle a project that she probably thought at one time was way beyond her reach.

With the help of Hal Higdon's marathon plan for beginners, I'd like to set up a weekly training schedule, revolved around peaking at just the right time so we both will arrive at the start line, ready to DO IT!

So my request here is.....anyone else interested in this as a long-term goal? Specifically anyone else willing to make the commitment to also run in the Tampa Marathon? Let's get "Team BT" together, meet up in Florida in February, and run this!

So far, the marathon web site is a bit under construction, but they do have a home page at

http://www.tampabayrun.com/

and it does give you the ability to sign up early. Once we get people on board, I'd like to encourage those that are willing to do this to send in the entry fee...nothing like putting your money where your legs and ambition are, and it will provide addtional motivation for doing this together.

Let's get a Team together. I'm willing to set up the training plan that will be do-able for anyone. Whether it's your first or 10th marathon, you'll have other virtual partners to train with and report back to. That should provide additional inspiration. In addition, for everyone who is willing to come on board, pay the race entry fee, and do this together, I'll foot the bill for our pre-race dinner the night before for the "Team BT" runners.

You don't have to decide today...but I'd like to start the program with a warm-up by August 1st, and get into a regular weekly schedule no later than September 1st. That'll give us over 20 weeks towards building you up to the distance. We'll start slow...there won't be any daily 10 mile runs to discourage people who have never done this before. So let's get together and I'll get an email list going for those who want to run with us!

Max

Edited by max 2005-06-28 9:37 AM