You're right, it is weird. I find it hilarious that I run at all! As would any PE teacher that I ever had - 200 metres was about my limit.
I know that conventional wisdom is to start with a short race and work up, but I started my "racing" career with the Chicago marathon in 2001 and walked the entire way apart from maybe 100 yards and yes, it takes a long time. 6:47:32 to be precise. It was quite an experience, but lonely as my buddy and I trailed through almost empty streets with what felt like just a handful of other walkers. In 2002 I strolled/jogged a 5K with a friend and then something odd happened. My marathon friend said that we should do the marathon again but faster - I resisted since this meant running, but somehow I got talked into doing an 8K and peculiarly I started off by running and it was FUN - and that's how it all started. After last year's marathon I did a 5 miler and a couple of 5Ks - what a totally different experience, they were finished almost before breakfast and there was no soreness the next day.
I'm not really sure how to fit short races into marathon training and the longer ones never seem to be at the right time. I definitely could do with more medals of course
Or did you mean more races in between the marathons? I'm sure that short races would help with my "speed" (if I can call it that, when my best per mile pace for a multi-mile run is 10:59 over 4 miles). At least being slow I have LOTS of goals to achieve - 3 miles in 30 minutes, then a 5K in 30 just to start with...
As far as run/walking goes, the plan is always to run/walk marathons I think - I can't get my head around trying to run 26.2, plus so far I'm faster when I take walk breaks. The furthest I've run without walking is 4 miles and it was 30 seconds / mile slower than if I have some walk breaks. I push along a bit faster if I know I have a rest coming up. I focus on the next walk break and the time drifts by without feeling overwhelmed by the distance to go. But I'm also working on continuous running - 2 runs a week are continuous.
This focus on the upcoming walk breaks is how I did Chicago - if you only run for 1.75 minutes the next break isn't far away! Walk breaks are surprisingly effective for me - I was overtaking a lot of people in the last 5 miles of Chicago - and although I walked for around 2 hours and 20 in total I still finished in 5:35 which isn't bad with all that walking. For the NJ marathon, I'm going to go with run 3 mins and walk 1 (as long as the longer runs don't show problems with that) and hopefully will continue to increase the running portion with each marathon - maybe one day that WILL mean running all the way. One advantage is that I'm virtually guaranteed PBs each time as my running portion increases.
I think it's great that you have inspired your sister so much that she's now becoming a marathoner.
