Running a Marathon without Training

Well, without "running" training anyway. So if you glance over to the right of the page here, you'll notice that for the second time in the last three weeks, I had a week with absolutely no running. Why? The ankle just won't heal up. I took almost two full weeks off before the Runaway Pumpkin Half, and the ankle didn't bother me terribly during the run, but after?

Yeah, it hasn't come back yet since that 13.1 mile jaunt.

So now, I'm biking and swimming every day. And I'll continue to bike and swim every day. Running? No. Maybe a 5k on Thanksgiving morning just to test it. And maybe not, depending on how it's feeling at that point.

Let's face it, I'm not going to be in any kind of running shape anyway - I mean that's just not possible at this point, so I might as well make sure the ankle is healed up by the CIM on December 2nd. I'd rather run out of shape on a healthy ankle than limp along, sort of in better shape, on a still-hurt ankle.

And yes, I am still running the CIM. There's no question there. I'm registered, I've got a hotel room, a plane ticket, a rental car...I'm running. Or walking...or crawling, if I have to.

Of course, the expected finishing time has been dropping daily as I see my last long run drifting off in the rear view mirror. I've gone from wanting to run my BQ 3:25 to wondering about 3:40, then thinking 3:50, and finally thinking it would be nice to break 4:00. In the next few weeks, we'll see if I drop my expectations even more. I hope not, but hey, there's no sense kidding myself.

So, can you run a marathon without training for a marathon? People say they have:

-A BBC report on running a marathon without training.

-Here's Sean Ogle, who apparently ran the Eugene Marathon with basically no training.

-Apparently, Peter Wilkinson of CNN ran a marathon, but only started training about two weeks before the race.

-Here's a Competitor article about how cycling is the best cross training exercise for running.

And before you say, "the R's has gone off the deep end - he's completely delusional," believe me, I already know I'm delusional. I would never try to run a race without putting in the miles...by choice.