Project Half Marathon: from 0 to 21 kilometres in 6 months

My colleague Claudio Candinas and I came up with the harebrained thrilling idea of running a 21-kilometre race sometime last autumn. At that point, Sports Editor Siri Schubert and Head of Content Martin Jungfer had just completed their own half marathons in different places. As Claudio and I were having lunch (probably burgers), we chatted about being in our early 40s and needing to start living healthier lives, doing more exercise and all that jazz. One thing led to another, and we came up with the burger-fuelled idea to compete in a half marathon in a year’s time.

The idea, the goal, the madness

This six-month-old idea has now turned into a plan. It involves two guys in their early 40s with busy careers, children and working spouses. Guys whose idea of exercise for the last 15 years has mostly involved sitting on the couch. Guys who’re not exactly averse to culinary temptations. They know that having entered their forties, the rolls of flab around their stomachs will be increasingly difficult to get rid of, but that they’d better do exactly that for the benefit of their long-term health. Time for them to face their self-imposed, bust-the-belly-for-a-healthier-life challenge.

About us:

Claudio Candinas

• Age: 40
• Family: married, two children (soon to be 2 and 3-and-a-half years old)
• Profession: Marketing at Digitec Galaxus AG
• Hobbies: music, food, coffee
• Pet: inner gremlin telling him not to exercise
• Sports: none
• Weakness: snacks
• Goal: survive the 2024 Greifensee Run

Self-assessment:

I’m a couch potato who often longs to enjoy sport and exercise. I gave up the dream of having a god-like body sometime in my mid-30s, swapping it for an acceptance of the status quo i.e. a dad bod. Since my kids were born, my priorities in life have shifted a lot – and I don’t really have a problem with that. Not really. But when my colleague Oliver and I came up with the idea of doing the Greifensee Run (over lunch), I jumped at the chance. Two men of a similar ages, with similar jobs, family situations and levels of free time have opted to try their hand at a half marathon. I’m either totally overestimating myself or getting too misty-eyed about the past, attempting to reflect 16-year-old me, who was unrivalled on the tennis courts of Chur. However, for whatever reason, I’m convinced that by having Oliver for moral support as well as a reasonably well-developed plan, I’ll successfully cross the finish line of the Greifensee Run.

Oliver Fischer

• Age: 42
• Family: married, one child (9 years old)
• Profession: Marketing at Digitec Galaxus AG
• Hobbies: photography, cooking, reading
• Pets: silverfish, all kinds of houseplant pests
• Sport: floorball (as a spectator)
• Weakness: a comfortable couch
• Goal: survive the 2024 Greifensee Run

Self-assessment (generous):

I’ve been pursuing the «pool-ready body in two years» project for the last 15 years without success. That being said, I still drag myself to Winterthur’s outdoor swimming pools every year. I mean, isn’t my body «pool-ready» by virtue of being a body in the pool? Still, my 18-, 22- or 27-year-old selves are always there haunting me. In those days, my leisure time (outside of school, then uni, then work) was almost completely filled with sport. I played floorball regularly. When I quit aged 27 due to work, the math spoke for itself: sport +/- 0, kilos +15. I’ve since shifted some of that extra weight, but my sportiness level’s still hovering somewhere between couch potato and stadium-bleacher climber. How fitting that the idea to do the 2024 Greifensee Half Marathon came about over lunch with my colleague Claudio. 21 kilometres? Please! I used to do that on (admittedly extended) summer jogging sessions through the forest. Four-minute kilometres were par for the course (not up to 21 kilometres, mind you, but to 8). And anything under 10 kilometres didn’t count as exercise. Sure, I was young and in good shape. But surely it can’t be that difficult to get back to, say, a six-minute kilometre. Can it? Well, 1 km in six minutes, not 21 km. If we’re talking about the whole stretch, I’d be more inclined to say 7 minutes per kilometre. Or just be fast enough not to get picked up by the broom wagon.

We’re the average Joe

We suspect we’re not the only ones to start their half-marathon journey this way – or to have sheer survival as their goal. As a result, we’ll be reporting regularly on our progress over the next six months. We’ll share the obstacles we encounter in our day-to-day lives, our successes and our misadventures.

We won’t receive any professional support from personal trainers or nutrition specialists, nor will Galaxus pay us for the project outside of writing our articles. We’ll be tackling our training sessions, adopting habits and routines (and dropping others) in the little free time we have outside of work and family life. The reason? Because this is precisely the situation many other folks find themselves in.

Some people really would like to do a bit more exercise or adopt some healthier habits. But all too often, life, work, the kids’ eating habits or some other excuse gets in the way. We want to break this cycle. All knowing full well that we might fail miserably and publicly.

I guess we’d just have to deal with it. Rather than being a mid-life-crisis-inspired, marathon-junkie, six-pack fest, it’ll be two slightly overweight, currently rather unfit (and in my case, half-injured) blokes making an honest attempt to get their butts in gear (and slightly more toned). The less than 10 per cent body fat required for a six-pack is a breezy 17–20 per cent away.

Just saying.

Wish us luck...

... because we could use some. Maybe you think we’re complete idiots. Maybe you’re in a similar situation and want to be inspired by our journey (of pain). Either way, you’ll get your fill of inspiration, second-hand embarrassment and schadenfreude in the coming months. Every two weeks, we’ll take it in turns to share what training we’re doing or not doing, successes and setbacks here on galaxus.ch.

Stay tuned.

And follow Claudio and Oliver.