Group whips couch spuds into shape for marathons

Scottsdale lawyer Michael Patterson knew he’d laid off exercise too long.

"Last Christmas, I found myself the biggest couch potato I’d ever been in my life," the 41-year-old father of two said. "I just wasn’t feeling good."

To compound that fact, Patterson’s wife had just whipped herself into tip-top shape. She’d trained for and completed her first marathon weeks earlier.

"The day after Christmas, I decided that I was going to run a block and half down the street to get the mail and then I’d run back," Patterson said. "Then, the next day, I’d run a little further and keep building every day until I could run a marathon."

So the next day, Patterson ran to the mailbox and back.

"I was completely winded," he said.

"I went in and told my wife, ‘Honey, I can’t even run to the mailbox and back. There’s no way I am ever going to run 26.2 miles.’ "

But 20 weeks later, he did. Patterson enlisted the help of East Valley-based 1st Marathon, which guides aspiring marathon runners through 20-to 25-week training programs.

The sessions consist of coaching, weekly personal training schedules, seminars, speed sessions and Saturday morning group runs. On June 1, Patterson completed the Rock ’n’ Roll Marathon in San Diego.

Another 1st Marathon training program will start Saturday — just in time for aspiring endurance athletes to prepare for the inaugural P.F. Chang’s Rock ’n’ Roll Arizona marathon, scheduled for Jan. 11. The event — with a fast, flat course and 50 live bands lined up along the way — is a great opportunity for firsttimers, said Brian Collins, a coach with 1st Marathon.

"Eighty percent of the people we work with are training for their first physical endeavor in a long time," he said. "Most of them are in the same condition as that of the average American. They’re slightly overweight. They haven’t done anything physical in quite some time. But we have a very high success rate with those people."

Long-term planning is key.

"Twenty weeks of preparation is a nice time frame for most beginners," Collins said. "It definitely allows enough time for the physical changes that have to happen to the body to take place, along with allowing for the variables of training, like injuries. But it’s not so long a time period that it psychologically becomes defeating."

The body needs time to build the muscles needed to run, the endurance needed to finish, and the lung capacity needed to supply enough oxygen to keep the body moving. To do that, 1st Marathon starts runners with a half-mile run the first week, then gradually increases the distance.

"The magic of the program is the group nature of it," Collins said. "As you go down the road together, you pick each other up and keep going."

While the group helps you through the training, it’s the personal challenge that draws people to the marathon.

"The marathon becomes a personal Mount Everest for most people," Collins said. "The unique quality of the marathon is that it’s something very accessible for just about anybody to attempt. However, it’s very, very exclusive in that it takes time to plan and accomplish it. Even the best athlete in the world can’t just wake up and run a marathon."

Running ahead

The P.F. Chang’s Rock ’n’ Roll Arizona marathon and half-marathon starts 7:45 a.m. Jan 11 at Wesley Bolin Memorial Park in downtown Phoenix. Cost to register is $85 for the marathon or $55 for the half-marathon. Call (858) 450-6510 or e-mail rnraz@elite racing.com to get a hard-copy of the entry form. Or, sign up at http://www.rnraz.com.

The starting line What: 1st Marathon will train first-time marathoners to run the P.F. Chang’s Rock ’n’ Roll Arizona marathon on Jan. 11. When: Programs start Saturday Where: DC Ranch in Scottsdale and Kiwanis Park in Tempe Cost: $150 for 20-week training program Information: (480) 358-0488 or www.1stmarathon.com.