Why am I training for a marathon?

Good question. This is actually the 3rd or 4th time I've started marathon training. I have yet to run a marathon. Previous attempts were interrupted by laziness, injury, or war. I have been an off and on runner for about 30 years. My first race was the inaugural Bolder Boulder in 1979. I've tried to find my time from back then, but so far I have been unsuccessful. It would be interesting to see how my time compares to my 30 year older self. I have never been a fast runner. The fastest pace for a timed run that I remember is 13:30 for a required 1.5 mile run when I was about 30 years old in the Air Force. Back to the original question. The idea of running a marathon has been in the back or front of my mind for a long time. The sense of accomplishment of training for, getting to the starting line healthy and trained, and then crossing the finish line must be incredible and I'd like to do that. I've seen other peoples' goals of doing things like 50 marathons before they are 50, etc...well my goal is to finish a marathon under 5 hours before I'm 50. Will I accomplish this goal? Stay tuned!

This weeks training:

Monday - 5.13 miles on treadmill in 1:00

Tuesday - 9.46 miles on treadmill in 1:50

Wednesday - 5.1 miles on treadmill in 1:00
included 6 1 minute runs @ 6.2 mph

Thursday - 9.45 miles on treadmill in 1:50

Friday - 5.27 miles on treadmill in 1:00

Saturday - 10 minutes recumbent bike, 20 minutes elliptical trainer (Treadmill at this hotel sucks, I've been on a campaign to get them to replace it for 6 months now.)

Sunday - 13.39 miles on treadmill in 2:40
What a difference a week makes. Last week I struggled the last 1.5 hours of my long run. This week, I felt like I could have gone for another 30 minutes. I think my idea of eating a few extra carbs the day before was a good one.

Next weeks training. Add 2 and 4 minutes to my short and medium runs. In place of my long run, I'm going to run a 15k race.