Marathon #10 is on its way...in less than 2 weeks, I'll do the Flying Pig Marathon for the second year in a row in Cincinnati, Ohio! I'm both excited and nervous - with the DC marathon only a little over a month away, I haven't been doing super long training runs. The longest I've done since the March 16 marathon is just over 10 miles. Will this help me or hurt me? Will I feel too tired in the race or would I have burned out with longer training runs? I just don't know.
Running marathons goes beyond your physical endurance. I've done it 9 times now and although it has gotten a bit easier, running for that long can really get to your head. Running is definitely a mental sport. For someone like me, who isn't running to win the whole event, I am my own competition. It's rough when the only person you can trash talk is yourself.
Right now, I'm overwhelmed by different thoughts. I'm inspired to dedicate my race to the victims of the Boston Marathon attacks; will this dedication be what carries me to a Boston qualifying time? Will the lack of 21 mile training runs in the last 4 weeks overpower my dedication to do well? Will the stretching that I've been doing backfire (the bad thing about stretching is that you are much more AWARE of the aches and pains) or will it propel me forward to victory against myself? Will it finally rain on the day of one of my marathons, a terrible event that I've somehow managed to dodge so far?
The truth is, I can't control my race. What's funny about races is that even if you train for weeks and weeks, you can still have a crappy day. As much as I want to qualify for Boston, I know that what I really care about is having fun and enjoying having a city shut down for me to run its streets with its residents cheering me on. The people who support their runners are the ones who keep us sane in an insane, crazy sport.
Running marathons goes beyond your physical endurance. I've done it 9 times now and although it has gotten a bit easier, running for that long can really get to your head. Running is definitely a mental sport. For someone like me, who isn't running to win the whole event, I am my own competition. It's rough when the only person you can trash talk is yourself.
Right now, I'm overwhelmed by different thoughts. I'm inspired to dedicate my race to the victims of the Boston Marathon attacks; will this dedication be what carries me to a Boston qualifying time? Will the lack of 21 mile training runs in the last 4 weeks overpower my dedication to do well? Will the stretching that I've been doing backfire (the bad thing about stretching is that you are much more AWARE of the aches and pains) or will it propel me forward to victory against myself? Will it finally rain on the day of one of my marathons, a terrible event that I've somehow managed to dodge so far?
The truth is, I can't control my race. What's funny about races is that even if you train for weeks and weeks, you can still have a crappy day. As much as I want to qualify for Boston, I know that what I really care about is having fun and enjoying having a city shut down for me to run its streets with its residents cheering me on. The people who support their runners are the ones who keep us sane in an insane, crazy sport.
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