The Athens Classic Marathon takes place on November 4th, 2008. Before then, I plan following a training program designed by Hal Higdon, a professional runner from Chicago. The training itself takes place over 18 weeks, which I started on July 8th. Each week I run several short-distance runs followed by my long run on Sunday mornings. It will be a long and difficult road (often literally here in Armenia) but I am excited to finish my first marathon, especially to benefit Push!
Here is my schedule, along with where I am currently (marked with green if I finished the run, red if I didn’t):
| Week | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat | Sun |
| July 7 | rest | 3 mi | 3 mi | 3 mi | rest | cross | 6 mi |
| Jul 14 | rest | 3 mi | 3 mi | 3 mi | rest | cross | 7 mi |
| Jul 21 | rest | 3 mi | 4 mi | 3 mi | rest | cross | 5 mi |
| Jul 28 | rest | 3 mi | 4 mi | 3 mi | rest | cross | 9 mi |
| Aug 5 | rest | 3 mi | 5 mi | 3 mi | rest | cross | 10 mi |
| Aug 12 | rest | 3 mi | 5 mi | 3 mi | rest | cross | 7 mi |
| Aug 19 | rest | 3 mi | 6 mi | 3 mi | rest | cross | 12 mi |
| Aug 26 | rest | 3 mi | 6 mi | 3 mi | rest | cross | 13 mi |
| Sep 2 | rest | rest | 3 mi | 7 mi | 4 mi | Vacation | |
| Sep 9 | Vacation: Climbing Mt. Ararat | ||||||
| Sep 16 | Vacation | 8 mi | 4 mi | rest | cross | 16 mi | |
| Sep 23 | rest | 4 mi | 8 mi | 5 mi | rest | cross | 12 mi |
| Sep 30 | rest | 4 mi | 9 mi | 5 mi | rest | cross | 18 mi |
| Oct 7 | rest | 5 mi | 9 mi | 5 mi | rest | cross | 14 mi |
| Oct 14 | rest | 5 mi | 10 mi | 5 mi | rest | cross | 20 mi |
| Oct 21 | rest | 5 mi | 8 mi | 4 mi | rest | cross | 12 mi |
| Oct 28 | rest | 4 mi | 6 mi | 3 mi | rest | cross | 8 mi |
| Nov 4 | rest | 3 mi | 4 mi | 2 mi | rest | rest | Marathon |