Blog Post 6

• Life skills
• organization
• determination
• time management
• Overcoming adversity
• achieving a goal

"They Say, I Say"

Ashley Hamilton

Period 6

3-19-17

“They Say, I Say” One-Pager

If you were to ever say, “Wow, I’m bored! Maybe I should go run or train for a half marathon?!”, many people would think you are out of your mind and would think why would you want to put yourself through all that torture?! Many runners answers would be, “Why not?” If you don't challenge yourself you’re never going to get better. For me, I have always loved running, in the summer I go on runs on the trail if it is nice out or in the winter I will run on the treadmill in my basement. Still, many people would think I am crazy for running for fun, but I enjoy it so I continue to do it. If I was asked the question, “Why would I put myself through all of the torture?” I think I would answer the same as any other runner, because I like to do it. No one goes into training for races or signs up for races because they want to torture themselves for the next 12 or so weeks.

In my article,”60 Hours of Hell: The Story of the Barkley Marathons” by Madison Kahn, it talks about what the Barkley Marathons are about and has comment from the creator and previous runners about what they think about the race and why they do it. If you couldn't already tell by the title of the article “60 Hours of Hell….Barkley Marathons”, but the race is “the most brutal race on earth”, people from all over the world come and compete in it. The creator himself,Gary “Laz” Cantrell, stated that the Barkley Marathons it “the race that eats the young.” Also, the name as an “s” at the end of marathon because it is not just one marathon you have to run, you have to run five marathons in  a 60-hour time period to be considered a finisher. In 2013, only 14 people had ever finished the Barkley Marathons. Like mentioned before, you don't do anything to be torturous to you, you do it because its fun and its a challenge. The article ”60 Hours of Hell: The Story of the Barkley Marathons”, Laz stats, “It takes a different kind of mentality to do something that no matter how well you’ve prepared, you’ll probably fail at.” Of course, you can’t go in there thinking like that though. If you really want to do something, go out, find out how to do it, and try your best. That is what you have to do at the Barkley Marathons, and you also have to do that even to register for race. A Two-time Barkley Competitor, Beverly Abbs stated, “There’s an email listserv for the Barkley…..the veterans will just lie. For a virgin, half of getting to the start line is working through the lies.” There is no website for registration, you basically have to figure it out yourself, just like how you have figure out the paths and trails of the course all by yourself.

In my opinion, yes, I agree that if you are going to take on a challenge you need to have the right mentality to do it. You don't ever wont to go into anything thinking you are going to fail, if you do that, you will never succeed. No matter how hard the challenge is, even if it;s the Barkley Marathons, you should only be doing it if you want to take on the challenge and have the passion and mentality to pursue the training to accomplish your goal. Even if you come up short, you can still say you did it for a reason, to give yourself a challenge. If you accomplish your goal, then you have proved to yourself if you put your heart and mind to something you can achieve it.

Field Work/Mentor

Field work for my 20 Time project would running, a lot lol. But right now for me, that is something I am still unable to do. I have been in physical therapy for a month or two now and things have been going very well. I have just been released to start light practice and some light jogging (baby steps!) So right now for my field work I have been slowly strengthening my knee and getting it back to full strength so I can do everything at 100 percent again like go on runs, go biking, and play softball. I think that field work was obviously the better route for me is because in going this way I could also talk to my trainers about good ways of getting myself back into good running shape and how slow to start. I also have gotten good information on a nutritional diet I could go on to help stay in good runners shape, which would also help with staying in shape for softball.

Blog Post 4 3-25

Right now, Jordan and I are stuck between some ideas, as we will have to change the outcome for our TED Talk at the end of the year. We are unable to run the half marathon during the actual school year due to the fact we couldn't find a date in May due to our busy schedules with softball games, soccer games, and graduation stuff. We plan to run the half marathon sometime June or July, it will work a lot better with our schedules and will have more time to train for it and achieve our end goal of being able to run the entire half marathon. We are still getting something out of training and will talk about that in our TED Talk at the end of the year. We will talk about all of how hard work we put into it, all of the training, the running even when that's the last thing we would have wanted to do then, and all of our sacrifices and sticking to a plan.

"They Say, I Say" 3-2

Ashley Hamilton

Period 6

3-2-16

“They Say, I Say” One-Pager

    Doesn't it suck to be the middle child, feeling forgotten sometimes? Well if you are one, then you would know how a half-marathon feels like. It's like a train stop, with your , but not quite there yet. They say a half-marathon is like the forgotten stepchild. It doesn't have the uproaring or the popularity like a marathon because you don't hear about all the times and prizes/big races in big cities doing half marathons. Many people believe that running is very bad for you and you shouldn’t do it. Yes, it can be bad for you, but not if it's done the right way. Also, it is said to have at least a year's worth of solid running before attempting to run a half-marathon or full marathon. It is said that you should have a solid base for training before you start for a long race such as a half-marathon or a full marathon. However, I beg to differ.

    In my article, “13.1: Not Just Half a Race” by Richard A Lovett, it talks about just that. The half-marathon is no longer a lost race. According to “13.1: Not Just Half a Race” in 2007 it “was the year of the half marathon.” This is thanks to Ryan Hall, who on January 14, 2007, “smashed the American record with a 59:45 in Houston.” Just two months after that, man from Kenya dropped the best half-marathon time to 58:35. Also that year, it wasn't just the men who were making the comeback for the half-marathon, the women also broke records too. “On September 30, Kara Goucher ran unofficially best with a 1:06:57 in England.” Just a couple weeks later that record was broken again my a women from the Netherlands with a time of 1:06:25. I don't think it was just these several people that helped the comeback of the “forgotten stepchild”, but also many others because a lot of other runners were training harder and harder to again, beat those times. The article “13.1: Not Just Half a Race” also talks about how it is a good idea to be on a good training schedule and stick to it and do your best at “base building, tempo runs, speed work, and tune ups.”

    In my opinion, I would agree with what the article says about the training needed and the half-marathon being the “forgotten stepchild.” Especially for me right now with my injured knee, it will take even more training for me to be able to run at a good pace and to achieve my goal of running a half-marathon with NO walking (except for maybe at water spots lol). I also really believe that the half-marathon is kind of like the forgotten stepchild or a little like the middle child of the family. According to my article “13.1: Not Just Half a Race”, it says, “a 1200m should be done in 4:30”, which is a 6 minute mile pace. For me, that is not where i am at so i will have to do research on how to pace yourself for about a 7:30-8 minute mile pace.

Blog Post 32-23

Right now, I am still unable to start my training due to the injury to my knee. However, I have been continuing my research on how to properly run and pace yourself for a beginner. Also, I have been looking up good diets to be on for the week before and while training for the half marathon. 

Blog Post 2 2-10

1. Whats the best way to train for a half marathon?
2. How do you pace yourself when running long distance?
3. What are the best foods to have in your diet while training for a half marathon?

Checking in

AshHam:

So since you are still healing this might be a good time to think about whether or not this project will work. I want you to talk to your doctor, parents, and coach/physical trainer to make sure this is something that will not jeopardize athletics for you. Please let me know ASAP. If you find you need to switch or adjust, this is the best time to do it!

Take care of yourself first.

Blog Post 1 2-2

My proposal for the 20 time project is to run a marathon with Jordan Vaske. I got this idea from writing my first journal about the 20 time project ideas, I mentioned it to Jordan and right away she was also on board to do it. We have already found a marathon just before our last day of school, May 21 in Green Bay, Wisconsin. I will have to find out the right equipment in order to be successful and have a good outcome. So far we Jordan has come up with a workout schedule from now to the day of the marathon. But, I have not yet started my process, due to an injury. Last week I hyper extended my leg, and I may have a possible torn meniscus or a torn MCL. So for right now I am laying off of it and getting rest so I don’t hurt it anymore. So that has halted my process in completing the marathon. Next week I plan on looking up some good equipment you need to run a marathon, and I might start on a good diet plan to train for a marathon.