The Untitled Journals of Steve Donovan's Marathon Training: The Journals of Steve Donovan's Marathon Training

By Steve Donovan

Steve Donovan liked smoking a lot, but he liked his wife and daughter more. When he started running to help himself quit smoking, he entered into a whole new culture.

Donovan's competitive spirit leads him to train for the Chicago Marathon to break the four-hour mark. During that time, he kept this diary.

The journal entries are humorous, touching and genuine. The Untitled Journals of Steve Donovan's Marathon Training is based on events logged in Donovan's journal from January 2003 to October 2004.

His view of running becomes entwined with his personal life. Running helps him become more insightful about him being his best, but his competitive spirit takes a hit when a life-altering event leads to an epiphany.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Nov 1, 2005
• ISBN: 9780595815135

Steve Donovan

Steve Donovan lives in Madison, Wisconsin with his two children Franny & Ian. He has never written a book?and this journal was quite an accident after he began logging his mileage. Since he began running in 2003, he has accomplished nineteen marathons and three 195 mile relay races with his team The Pygmy Shrews. Donovan sits on Madison?s Shamrock Shuffle board. He gets grumpy if he stays up late. Try not to feed him after midnight. And never, ever get him wet.

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The Untitled Journals of

Steve Donovan’s

Marathon Training

by Steve Donovan

iUniverse, Inc.

New York Lincoln Shanghai

The Untitled Journals of Steve Donovan’s Marathon Training

Copyright © 2005 by Stephen Donovan

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

iUniverse books may be ordered through booksellers or by contacting:

iUniverse 2021 Pine Lake Road, Suite 100 Lincoln, NE 68512 www.iuniverse.com 1-800-Authors (1-800-288-4677)

ISBN-13: 978-0-595-37113-6 (pbk)

ISBN-13: 978-0-595-81513-5 (ebk)

ISBN-10: 0-595-37113-2 (pbk)

ISBN-10: 0-595-81513-8 (ebk)

Printed in the United States of America

This book is dedicated to my wife Jennifer

Her love & support gives me strength to accomplish any goal.

Contents

Introduction

Prologue

1 Compared to Storming Normandy Beach

2 As You May or May Not Know, I’m Not Gay

3 That’s Exactly What I’m Worried About

4 The Story of The 2003 Chicago Marathon:

Let Me Guess You’re Steve

5 There’s Nothing Wrong with Memories

6 Every Masterpiece

7 What Things Change

8 Comrades Fill No Glass for Me

9 Make Sure the Green Marks Align

10 The Story of The 2004 Chicago Marathon:

Looking for the Balloons

11 Epilogue

APPENDIX A

Web Sites & Reading for Training & Races www.halhigdon.com

APPENDIX B

Typical Running Schedule That I Base My Training

About the Author

Running is an absurdity, and thus a good preparation for the absurdity of life.

—Donald Sutherland

as Bill Bowerman

in the film Without Limits

Introduction

By Dan Presser

It’s 5:30 in the morning. Your Saucony Grid Trigon 3’s are beating a rhythm on the pavement of a country road. You’re on your fifth mile while the rest of your family is asleep. They should be. You’re on vacation. But, YOU’VE been up every morning—running.

Sounds familiar, right? You understand. You know what it means to supinate or pronate. You know the language. So does the author of this book, Steve Donovan. It’s just—Steve speaks a different dialect.

As a runner myself, when I first met Steve, I knew. We were both working at a TV station in Madison. I had just finished doing the morning news show. He was just starting in the Promotions Department. I was probably groggy from the 1 a.m. to 11 a.m. shift. But, still I knew.

It wasn’t Steve’s slightly underfed appearance. (Kind of like Bob Denver’s May-nard from Dobie Gillis.) Or, his up-and-at-’em demeanor at 8 a.m., when the rest of the world was still fumbling for coffee. It wasn’t even the $125 Asics he was wearing with his dress casual Dockers. It was that slightly manic look in his eyes. You know, kind of like the deep stare of a born-again looking for a convert.

Steve and I talked the language right away. I had run two marathons. I think at the time, Steve was training for his first. From then on, whenever we would see each other, we would talk the talk as only runner’s can. I soon found out Steve was speaking High-running to my Low-running. I mean, how else does a straight guy accidentally join a gay running club? (I’m sorry Steve, was that a secret?) His obsession obviously goes beyond the norm.

Steve and I have left TV. But, not working together…or, running. These days we work in the media production world. And, we run. He runs much more. His dia-

lect has continued to develop—unfettered by what the rest of us speak. Mine is still remedial.

I’m glad he wrote this book for the rest of us to read. Maybe now, I’ll understand his dialect. Or, at least, have others who are as confused as me. Read on. You’ll be glad you did—really! What if I said, please?

Dan Presser lives in Madison, Wisconsin and helps run Tweedee Productions. He recently helped produce In the Red Zone, a full length documentary on University of Wisconsin’s historical football stadium Camp Randall. He remains an occasional marathoner.

Prologue

A marathon takes about four days a week for eighteen weeks. Beginners run about fifteen miles the first week and finish their fifteenth week running at least forty miles. After that really long week of running, then you’re in The Taper. The Taper is the point where you’ve done all the work and you scale back your miles and continue to eat a lot. Sort of like bears before hibernation. Except you finish by running 26.2 measured miles instead of sleeping all winter.

During training, you have the opportunity to keep a journal of distance, time, climate and so on. You can go into great depth if you like. In my journal, it evolved into a diary and then it turned into a turning point in my life.

My marathon training schedule was authored by marathon training legend Hal Higdon. This man is considered a guru in the running community. (A guru whose training plan can be found online for free.) Higdon’s only guarantee is that you’ll cross the finish line without getting hurt. I liked the sound of that claim, so I used his plan for all three training periods in this diary.

When I began training for my first marathon in January of 2003, I was still smoking about two or three packs of cigarettes a week. Running was supposed to help me quit, but I continued until March. At that point, I just stopped cold turkey. When I ran out, I just stopped buying them. Since then, I haven’t picked them up again. I think I tried two or three since quitting on that St. Patrick’s Day in 2003, but they tasted horrible.

I finished training for my first marathon and finished in 4:11. Just think how well I could have done if I wasn’t smoking ten weeks of the training!

Right after I did my first marathon, a running buddy of mine convinced me to sign up for the Chicago Marathon. I loved the idea of it and signed up immediately. Soon after that, I began to find a way to journal my runs. I had this revelation after a couple beers that I could keep a personal journal on my mileage, time, music and events during each run.

Up until October 2004, I continued to keep them. I felt that the journals should continue until I broke four hours in Chicago.

When the journals finished, someone suggested getting the diaries published. I laughed and told him that nobody likes to read about a mediocre runner in his thirtysomethings.

But, he raises his finger to make a point, think about Harry Potter. He continues to improve his Quidditch skills which makes for a good story! He has brown hair like you! AND look at your glasses! Harry Potter has glasses!

I wear my glasses to read.

I wonder if Harry Potter wears his for reading, too? You never find out, do you?

I don’t know. I never read any of the Harry Potter books.

Exactly! My point! Exactly! You can target everyone who doesn’t read Harry Potter books and fill in those gaps!

His voice becomes white noise. I start thinking about me sitting in some large bookshop reading an excerpt with my reading glasses. Taking them off when I’m done. People applauding. Signal a ‘thank you’ to random people in the small crowd and find my seat to sign books. The line forms and I begin applying my name via Sharpie to each book’s title page. Then, a blond woman opens her book and puts it in front of me and says, Make it out to Suzy Favor. I look up and it’s Suzy Favor Hamilton! Yowza! I’ve just hit an all time high!

Steve! This is it! I snap out and he jibes, ‘Steve Donovan and the Half Blood Marathon! How funny would that be?"

What was the name of Suzy Favor Hamilton’s book? I ask.

The runner Suzy Favor Hamilton?

No, the other Suzy Favor Hamilton, I barked the dumb joke.

I didn’t know she had a book. Shut up.

It was about nutrition. It was something like Fast-something. Fasting for Fitness.

I don’t know, my friend told me as he loses interest while he drinks a gin and tonic and looks around the bar.

Maybe the title doesn’t matter. Anyway, she has a book.

My friend continued to scan the tavern’s patrons. I continued to think about putting together this book.

1

Compared to Storming Normandy Beach

Training for a marathon: The key to beginning any large task, you need to start slowly. Many runners are people who have been running for a while. But, if you’re thinking about running a marathon after a life of eluding extraordinary health, start slowly. Ask you doctor if it’s a good idea. Make sure you have been running races for about a year.

Sunday, June 15, 2003

I have created this journal after drinking two beers and having the ambitious belief that I can continually maintain this. Is it the same blind ambition that drives me to run 26.2 miles