It's time to start training for the Michelob Ultra El Paso Marathon and Raiz Half Marathon

The Michelob Ultra El Paso Marathon and the Raiz Half Marathon are only six months away. So now is the time to start training for one of these serious races to be held Feb. 18.

But why do it at all?

Having run 82 marathons (and various endurance triathlons and ultra marathons), I frequently get asked, “Why??” My answer usually has something to do with fun and exercise, and I often get met with looks of skepticism.

I’ve even had friends brag about sitting on the couch with a beer and a Cowboys game on the TV at the same time as one of the races.

“Getting up and going to the bathroom is the only exercise I need,” one guy told me.

I resisted the temptation to suggest that he get a second opinion. And I suspect it did take a lot out of him to get up and go to the bathroom. A lifetime of beer and TV will do that to you.

But, if getting in shape is your goal, you can easily take care of that by walking or running about 3-4 miles a day, 3-4 times a week. Just getting in shape is not reason enough to run a 26.2-mile marathon, or even a 13.1-mile half marathon.

Getting a good answer to the “why?” question about running distance races took me many years. But I finally found it.

My running story, at least my “modern era” running story, began when my children were in their early teens. My daughter and son had challenged me to a game of basketball in the driveway, something we had done on-and-off many times through the years.

But this time, I couldn’t keep up. I found myself putting my hands on my knees and huffing and puffing. I was in my mid-40s, and age had caught up to me.

So I decided it was time to do something and run a few miles a day. I figured 3 miles a day would be a good place to start, even though I hadn’t really run for many years. I had run cross country in high school, so I thought that after a few runs, my running ability would come back, and I would be my “normal” speedy-teen self again.

I was wrong. That first run was more of a walk than a run. I struggled to finish 2 miles.

Something made me stick with it, and within a couple of weeks, I was up to 3 miles a run. But soon, I started to get bored with it, even though I knew I had to keep at it if I wanted to stay healthy.

That’s when it hit me: I needed a goal. Something I had never done before. And since, back in the day I had run 5Ks and 10Ks and even a couple of half marathons, it was obvious that I had to run: the marathon.

I’d love to say that’s the end of the story, and in a way, it is. I set a goal: to run a marathon. But then as I started to train, that didn’t seem like much of a goal. So I did some reading, and realized that running a sub-4:00 marathon seemed like a thing to shoot for. I bought a book, Four Months to a Four Hour Marathon, and followed the program to train. And within about six months, I was chugging to the finish line of the San Diego Rock ’n Roll Marathon in a time of 3:46.

That marathon was eye-opening. The first few miles seemed easy enough, running by San Diego’s Balboa Park, next to the Zoo, then downtown and through Mission Valley, to Fiesta Island and the Mission Bay Area, then past Sea World. All that went reasonably well, but once we made the turn over the jetty and onto the Pacific Coast Highway, I met a pain that I had never known: a combination of exhaustion, muscle fatigue, oxygen deprivation and who knows what else. But I also met a side of me that I had never known existed: the part that told me to keep on, to finish what I had started, to accomplish this goal.

And therein lies the answer to the “why?” question. Why do people run marathons? Yes, to get in shape. Yes, to have fun (it is fun hanging out with runners beginning, during, and after the race). Yes, to set a goal and (hopefully) to accomplish it.

But mainly, the answer to why is to test yourself—to see if you can achieve something, something hard and at times painful, where the only limit to failing is yourself.

When you can do this, you know achievement. And understanding achievement through adversity is worth a lot.

Note: In subsequent columns, I will discuss a training plan for those looking to run their first full or half marathon (or for those looking to improve their time in those races).

Jim Weddell is the marketing director for the Michelob Ultra El Paso Marathon. He has run every El Paso Marathon but one since the race began in 2007.

This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: It's time to start training for the Michelob Ultra El Paso Marathon and Raiz Half Marathon