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'I'm Picking Up The Torch'

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 22, 2008

As part of the I Made It series, 4You will visit Bill Lee several times in the coming year, as he tries to balance life's adventures and training for his first marathon.

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Bill Lee, 36, Odessa

Goal: Running my first road race

Result: Completed 15 kilometer [9.3 miles] road race. Finished in 1 hour, 34 minutes.

Why I did it: My wife, prior to getting pregnant, had always dreamed of running a marathon or a race. But because she is pregnant for the third time, unfortunately she's not able to meet that goal. So I'm picking up the torch.

In November, my brother-in-law was in town. He had run the Chicago Marathon last year, and I kind of kept tabs on his race. One morning [when the brother-in-law was in Odessa], he was going for a run and I went with him.

In December, for my birthday, my wife gave me a book by Jeff Galloway [a running guru and best-selling author]. And it kind of snowballed from there.

I wanted to get some race experience prior to running a marathon (another goal). I wanted to really enjoy a success in my life when it came to running, because it's something new for me. Where my training program was, the 15k was exactly [the distance] where I wanted to be.

Hurdles: I actually was very active in sports when I was younger. I played tennis; I played basketball; I played baseball. But I always hated to run. I never liked it, so this is a challenge for me.

The biggest hurdle is [balancing] my life, my wife, my children and the time demands not only from my career, but also at home. Also, I needed motivation. I didn't really have any reason to run a marathon. But now I do.

Look, I'm a beginner. Even though I'm starting from ground zero, I can do this.

Attaining the goal: The Gasparilla race was bigger than I thought it was going to be. There was a lot of energy. There was some nervousness on my part, but it was really cool to see people cheering, and to really go through the race.

It was great to see the sights on a different course than I've been training on. But the coolest part was when I saw my wife and my brother-in-law cheering me on and taking pictures. I saw the finish line and I heard the announcer calling out people's numbers and names, and where they were from. That whole experience was really exciting.

Also, as I was running along Bayshore Boulevard, I saw the wheelchair racers, and we runners would all clap for them. To see them was a great motivation for me to push on.

I told my wife I would probably be anywhere between an hour and a half and two hours. I had done my 8-mile training run in one hour and 30 minutes. In the race, I actually ran a lot faster, and I wasn't that exhausted. I was very pleased, but I wasn't doing this for time. I was doing it for the experience of finishing.

Best advice: For this goal, I knew it was the longest distance I had ever done, so I knew to make sure not to get caught up in all the people going [faster] at the start. I took my walk breaks. I kept a slower pace until I warmed up. That was really the piece of advice I needed. I needed to make sure to stick to my game plan.

This is the first of a new 4you feature called I Made It. Readers who have reached a personal fitness goal are encouraged to share their experience and offer insight into how the feat was accomplished. Got a story to tell? E-mail mshedden@tampatrib.com; or send your story to Mary Shedden, The Tampa Tribune, 200 S. Parker St., Tampa, FL 33606.

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