New and events of the Philadelphia Bar Asso.
Issue link: https://thephiladelphialawyer.epubxp.com/i/434516
the philadelphia lawyer Winter 2015 37 Saturday night (and if you do, you certainly are not drinking). You need to make sure your weekdays have two-hour blocks of time to work out for a four-month period and you need to make sure you get enough sleep. Oh, and you need to get your work done. For me, the real estate market was in shambles, little work was occurring and I had some free time, so naturally, I decided to run a marathon. Most of the training was solitary weeknight runs – five- and seven-mile runs in the dark (and sometimes rain) by myself. What I looked forward to the most were the Sunday runs. I found a wonderful group that did the long runs together. The group consisted of doctors, lawyers, dentists, business people, grandparents, parents and most importantly, folks that were my speed. But about 10 days before the marathon, I got a pain in my left hip. I figured it would go away. It did not. The Thursday before the marathon I was noticeably limping. I tried to run and could not. Most folks told me I should not run for fear of major injury. My brother-in-law said if I ran I wouldn't walk properly for three months (he was right). But I ran anyway. After several Advil and some deep penetrating Ben-Gay I was at the start line… still limping. I figured I would try to run and if I couldn't take the pain, I would head back at the half marathon. The first five miles were sheer agony. I was way off my pace and the pain in my leg was searing. But then around mile six or so, Mayor Nutter gave me a high five and my leg started loosening up. By mile eight, I was back on pace and running fairly comfortably. By the half marathon I decided to go for it. By the time I hit the Manayunk grade, my high school heel injury had resurfaced (probably from the limping during the first five miles), one of my toenails felt like it was going to fall off and I hit my own personal wall at about mile 18. I knew my wife and girls were at mile 20 so I had that as a goal. I decided to walk through the water stops and properly rehydrate and eat. That ended up being my saving grace. By the time I hit mile 20, I had pressed through the wall and though I was running slowly, I knew I would finish. With tears in my eyes I came running around the Philadelphia Art Museum. At 4 hours, 37 seconds, I crossed the finish line. I walked with a limp for the next three months. I could not put full pressure on my leg for six weeks after the race and did not start running until two months after the race. And when I did start, I suffered a minor foot injury. By March 2010, one year after I started training in earnest for marathon number one, I was training for marathon number 2, the Philadelphia Marathon. I guess my heart was not in it the second time around. I wanted to do the marathon twice, but between the injury (in retrospect I never fully healed when I started back and that hurt my runs during the first few months) and some increased workload over the summer and particularly in September, I could not stay on my training schedule. I did run the Philly half marathon in November 2010 with a personal best of 1 hour, 49 minutes. I had actually run faster in a training session for the marathon a year earlier but that time wasn't official. And so ended my quest as a marathoner for one year. I look at my year of training as one of the most fulfilling of my life. I rediscovered my love of running and felt like I was aging in reverse. For all those lawyers out there, the marathon is doable even with our schedules (and certainly the half marathon is achievable). What is most important is to run, have fun and enjoy. Matthew Weinstein (MatthewWeinstein@cozen.com) is a member of Cozen O'Connor. Matthew Weinstein (in orange) runs through Manayunk.