First Marathons

Part 8.- Multiple matching.

You are going to read a magazine article in which five people talk about their decision to run their first marathon. For questions 1-10, choose from the five runners (A-E). Their runners may be chosen more than once.

First Marathons

A.- Susie Gordon

Susie enjoyed cycling as part of her daily routine. Then one year she went to support some friends who took part in a marathon, and was inspired. “I found it really moving to see all those people doing this amazing thing”, she says. “They had trained for so long and this was their day. I wanted to experience that.” She began a six-month training schedule. “The programme is designed to take you from a standing start to being able to run a marathon,” says Susie. “The aim was to get you to have enough fitness and stamina to run a marathon with minimum risk of injury”. Susie’s healthy lifestyle and fitness were a good basis for the demanding training routine. Week one involved alternating short bursts of running with walking. “I was expecting the training to be awful, but it wasn’t,” says Susie.

B.- Ben Harrier

Looking back, the reasons I finally decided to ‘take the plunge’ and run a marathon are unclear. It was a snap decision really – I certainly didn’t debate the pros and cons for long. There were many factors that led to my sudden decision. I’d always had some interest in running as a way to stay in shape, but every time I did too much too soon, I injured myself and did not want to continue. When I reached my mid-forties, I decided I had to get my act together – mentally and physically. I started walking, then inserted running intervals as a few hundred metres, then gradually extended the runs and reduced the walks until I was running two or three miles without a rest. I found this healthy and therapeutic, and something I was fairly good at.

C.- Vicky Lawrence

I started training for my first marathon in May after being inspired by a marathon in my home city. Witnessing all those people crossing the finish line made me want to sign up for a similar event. Initially, it was just one more thing on my list of “things to do”. I’d run one and then I’d be finished. I wanted to set a goal for myself and achieve it and didn’t care how long it took. I just wanted to finish. So, I trained for months, running shorter routes during the week, and going on epic jaunts at weekends. Every Saturday was new personal best in terms of distance achieved. My longest run was twenty miles. I tested out my race day clothes to make sure they were comfortable, and tried pre-race meals of oatmeal, peanut butter and a banana.

D Jon Carter

Having torn a muscle at the beginning of the year, I thought I would never run again. To pick myself up after that was difficult and to hear people around me talking about the runs they were doing made me more miserable. Out of frustration, I signed up for a half marathon scheduled four months later. Amazingly, I managed to complete my first half marathon within the qualifying time, I was motivated. When it came the time to register for the November marathon, my husband said he wanted to do the full marathon. It coincided with our first wedding anniversary and he said that he would run for us. I thought, “Why not?” I would complete a full marathon for us, too.

E.- Sally Woods

The sixteen weeks before the race seemed to go really slowly at first. Then the weeks flew by. My weekly mileage started climbing and I continued to be injury free. But the work got harder as the runs got longer and more like marathon training. I began to tell people that I was planning to run a marathon. ‘Where?’ They’d ask. ‘No’, I said, ‘so I have no idea what I’m in for, which is just the way I want it. ‘I prepared myself as best I could. I formulated a nutrition plan, I determined I was going to run as long as I could, as I have knee problems when I start running again after a walk.

1.- Which runner decided not to be put off running because of a previous experience?

2.- Which runner expected the preparation for running the marathon to be worse than it was?

3.- Which runner found that the training programme seemed to go more quickly?

4.- Which runner imagined that a previous injury would prevent them from competing?

5.- Which runner intended to avoid walking as this might lead to a physical problem?

6.- Which runner made the decision to run without weighing up the advantages and disadvantages?

7.- Which runner simply wanted to complete a race however much time it took?

8.- Which runner thought of the marathon as being a way of celebrating an important event?

9.- Which runner was in good physical condition prior to starting their marathon preparation?

10.- Which runner was motivated to run after watching the end of a marathon?