The Wanderer

Hello and welcome to the first day of the training blog. This is a space for me to talk about my experience training for my first marathon. But first, a little about me.

My name is Kshaunish Soni. I am a 23 year old software engineer, an author, and, as of a few days ago, a runner. I’ve been working out consistently for two years now, focusing mainly on strength training and lifting. Lately I’ve been working on self development, on pushing myself forward a little bit every day. Building yourself up every day is easier said than done, but I’ve found success in setting long term goals that I can look forward to. From there, every day I aim to tackle one portion of that goal, whether it be with work, writing, fitness, or relationships. I recently decided I wanted change in my life, to curb some of the bad habits I’ve held onto from my adolescence, and maintain the good habits I’ve started enjoying. I’m almost 24 now, and for me this marks the start of a new me, transitioning from who I once was, to who I’m about to become. This journey is a long one, and its manifested itself in many ways, from focusing more on work, to developing my relationships further. The most recent endeavor for me is to run the Chicago Marathon in October of 2024.

Now obviously this is a long way out, and this is by design. I am by no means a runner. The most I have ever ran is a 5k and my main form of workout for the past 2 years has been lifting with little cardio if any. But I have faith in my abilities to conquer my goals. Life gives us many challenges, some of them harder than others. When you’ve been through enough, you begin to feel like you can survive anything. When these challenges are self defined, they are tests to push you to the next level. I’ve done a lot in my life, and so far I’ve been able to take on every challenge that has come my way. Why would this be any different?

Attempting something as daunting as a 26.2 Mile run in the brisk Chicago autumn requires a lot of planning and a lot of dedication. I’ve built a regiment for myself to keep me focused and give me the structure in my day to day life. I find structure extremely rewarding, I’m the type of person that thrives on scheduling out my day. Having a plan works especially well with fitness, which is why I’ve devised a 6 day regiment to train.

Monday: Chest and Triceps day

Tuesday: warmup run

Wednesday: Back and Biceps day

Thursday: steady run

Friday: Leg Day

Sunday: Long run

Monday, Wednesday, and Friday will be my regular Push Pull Legs lifting regiment. I’ll focus on going as heavy as possible for 4-6 good reps. Major focus will be on stretching and remaining flexible before and after the workouts. My goal isn’t to bench 245 or squat 315, it’s to run a marathon, so the workouts will be more to maintain my build all while preventing injury for the runs.

Tuesday, Thursdays, and Sunday will be my running days. Again, focusing heavily on stretching and flexibility, as well as fueling myself optimally on these days. For the length of the runs I’m still working on figuring the best way to do this. For this week I am planning a 2 mile run on Tuesdays, 3 miles on Thursday and then 3.5 on Sunday. The goal of this is to gradually build up stamina throughout the week. Then I’ll add miles to the long run every few weeks as I get comfortable with these distances.

Along with this, I’ve scheduled some checkpoints along the way, notably a 10K in March and a half marathon in May. If I can do 13.1 miles 6 months from now, there’s no doubt in my mind I can do a 26.2 in a year.

Yesterday was day 1 of the marathon training, I hit chest and triceps with heavy weights. I took a week long break for thanksgiving so I feel like I’m starting fresh. Tomorrow is a 2 mile run, and we’ll take that on together too.

This daily blog will be a reminder for me to stick to my goals, and hopefully I can help my viewers follow along and achieve their own goals. If this is something you’re interested in, if you want to take on a challenge like this, or if you wanna stick around for the ride, give me a like and a follow, it really helps me out! This won’t be easy, but would it really be worth doing if it was? See you tomorrow.