I woke up curious about something today: if I add up all the miles I will run while training for this marathon, how far would that actually get me? Over the course of the next 18 weeks, I will be running 435 miles (461.2 including the Tokyo Marathon). That means I could run back and forth from Philadelphia to NYC about 5 times. I could make it to DC and back 3 and a half times. Or I could run to Toronto Canada, and still have enough miles left over to jog about and see the sights! This would save me lots on bus fare, but I guess once I crossed over, I'd have to convert to kilometers. Ah, sweet sweet metric. I suppose I should get used to keeping track of kilometers, since the marathon is in Japan.
My next question was, how far would those miles get me if I were to set a course for Tokyo right now. A quick Google maps search led me to discover the suggested route is 9,574 miles, which takes an estimated 36 days and 5 hours (127 days, if by foot, which I'm already too late to partake in; maybe next year) from Philadelphia to Tokyo. You might wonder how Google maps thinks this voyage is possible, and I was quite pleased to see that once I make my way to the to the opposite end of America, a quick Kayaking trip of 14 days across the Pacific Ocean will land me in Hawaii. From there, after reliving a few key scenes from Lost (my suggestion, not Google's), it's only another 20 days of kayaking the open sea until the land of the rising sun is met by me. So it seems if rest days were never a necessity, and it didn't cut into my regular marathon training schedule, then this method of travel would cover all my cross training requirements, and then some. I wonder if Hal Higdon has a secret advanced program that embraces this method?
Wouldn't it be quicker to go via Alaska, go island hopping through the islands between Alaska and Russia, and then come south along the land? Sometimes Google maps doesn't give you the quickest route...
ReplyDeleteSure, if you're familiar with the route from having done it before, island hoping via Alaska and Russia might work out fine. Just be prepared to face the moose and the polar bears! But did you miss the part where you stop in Hawaii? If I remember clearly enough from Rocky IV, cross training through Russia is quite the egregious task.
ReplyDeleteI dunno... I'd probably argue that training in Russia à la Rocky IV > long stretches of empty Pacific Ocean in a kayak + Hawaii. Besides, you might be able to work out your route to partake in some diplomacy.
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