How I Ran a 2:55 Marathon On The Treadmill

I used to struggle running on the treadmill, but now I can spend hours on it

Photo by sour moha on Unsplash

Last weekend, I ran a marathon on the treadmill. I did so to blow off steam from my studying for the bar exam, which I am taking on Tuesday and Wednesday. In America, the bar exam is a test every lawyer has to pass to be licensed to practice law. It has been somewhat of an arduous process, much harder than law school, and has been a big weight on me and my classmates since mid-May.

One way I have coped with studying for the bar exam, like I have the past three years of law school while working full time, is running and training for marathons.

I have been running 80 miles or more a week for the last 16 weeks. I ran a 2:35 marathon last year. I believe I’m in much better shape than that, and in the fall, when the weather is not hot and humid, my goal is to knock that personal best out of the park. I have been doing long runs of 22–24 miles every week, so I’m used to spending just under three hours on my feet every weekend.

Thus, I decided to run a marathon, which is 26.2 miles, on the treadmill to challenge myself a few days before the bar. I ran it in 2:55:31. Given my training, a 2:55 marathon in training is not very difficult for me, but I won’t lie and say it was a…