Right now, yes, we're sort of looking at the
Madison marathon for May (may 28th) and the Chicago one in the fall (oct.
22nd). I sort of want to offer 2 each spring/fall so that if you can't
do one, you're not down and out for the semester, hopefully you'll be
able to do the other. We might look for one in the summer, too. When I
say "offer" I mean we'll kind of make it the marathons that we're all
shooting for together, but beyond that, we may be able to get some
funding from the school (if not this spring semester, definitely this
fall) and, while I don't want to get our hopes up too high, the school
may even pay our entry fees, or at least pay for part of them. I know
there's money out there, we just have to fight our way to it a little
bit :)
As for the training - what we're hoping to
accomplish over break is setting up a massive training schedule. For
example, I'll set up the times when i can train/lead runs and
*hopefully* people will be able to attend. If not, the VP will set up
sort of an alternative training schedule, and hopefully people will be
able to hit if not some of mine, some of his, or both, etc. Don't hold
me to this, it may change (for example, the exec committee might instead
decide to have one person in charge of each day of the week, etc, we're
not sure - it's a work in progress).
The goal is to always have SOMEONE to
train with. It'd be ideal if a
BIG group of us could get out there together, but even if it's just a
group of 3, that's still SO much easier than running by yourself. The
main purpose of the club is to work toward this goal together, since
it's such a massive one and is accomplished much more easily with
someone than alone.
Phew, also, if a full marathon in May sounds
like maybe a lot (if you haven't run too much, or if this semester just
looks too busy to commit that much time to training, etc), we'll also
have people training to do a half marathon in may, continue training
over summer (when the weather is nicer) and then do the full one in the
fall.
Training *with* people isn't mandatory per
se, but it's highly recommended, but if perhaps you *couldn't* come on a
wednesday cuz you have a class or have to work, we wouldn't disown you,
but we'd count on you working out by yourself or something like that. I
should also say that it isn't necessary to run/work out every day of the
week in order to run a marathon. In fact, it's totally do-able by
running 4 times a week. Hopefully we'll have more solid training info
coming out soon.
Does this all make sense? I'm making a
Distribution List for the club, would you like me to put your name on
it? Then I'll email you more as it happens...