Why not the mile? It's shorter, you know.

Bannister and Landy immortalized
(Courtesy sashafatcat @ Flickr)

Admittedly, the mile is much shorter than the marathon and there is a great deal of nostalgia connected with the mile. There's the great story of Roger Bannister breaking the 4:00 barrier - a feat some thought impossible for the human runner. There's America's favorite son, Jim Ryun, who broke the outdoor mile world record twice, the indoor record once, and set the 1500m world record which stood for six years. Though the mile distance is typically not competed internationally, it still remains an American favorite in the minds of many. There are even efforts to bring back the mile as a competition distance here in the United States.


The mile distance holds a special place in my heart. The timelapserunner was in his best physical condition on March 19th, 1988, when he ran a personal best 5:44.7 mile at the TAC National Masters Indoor Track and Field Championships held in the LSU Field House. The details are easily brought to mind (though a video freshens the vision), so memorable was the entire experience.

With that moving personal experience in hand, one might ask again, "Why not the mile?"

I can offer a few reasons that have gone into my decision, but the most pragmatic one at the moment is my well-founded fear of suffering an injury that would prevent me from running and enjoying the running experience. I've suffered a few muscle-related setbacks during the past year, each brought on by being impatient in my training, ramping up either speed or distance before my body was ready to take the punishment. My mind thinks it's still 1988; my body knows it's 2012.

Surely, a sound and patiently-executed training program would lower the risk of injury while training for strong performance at the mile distance, so my reasoning is not a sufficient excuse for avoiding a nostalgic bid for mile glory once more. Nonetheless, I have cast my die with the marathon and it's slower training paces and avoidance of speed work (at least in my case). I'm sure that I don't nearly understand all the perils associated with training for the marathon, but I plan to do my best to follow sound guidance in training.

The marathon it is.