Wednesday, January 16, 2008

going the distance


i am going to run my first marathon this year. i've been putting it off and putting it off, until the time felt "right". i cant explain why "this" time feels "right", but i know the time is "now".

my calendar now has 16 weeks of training runs marked down; shorter daily runs to maintain, and long weekend runs for stamina, allowing myself to adjust to the discomfort, until it feels "easy"(er).

the closer the pages get to "the big day", the more overwhelming the task at hand looks. and doubt creeps in that perhaps i am incapable, so why bother trying, or putting myself through unecessary suffering and injury. i know that there are going to be those times that totally suck (walking/whining/wailing/wallowing) where i will want to pack it in. but i also know myself; and i wont.

thankfully, i have a co-worker/buddy/partner/supporter/witness to both the good days and the sucky days. that is what it is ultimately about.

(even if old men are faster than me).

2 comments:

mansuetude said...

i lived in Boston and we would walk over to the marathon, and watch, and knew the route,... if anyone crossed the finish line at all, it was likely they were given a lot of support, even the last and late ones!! The college students sit out on the balconies and drink beer and cheer and the streets are lined with support...the whole town was into carb-ing up, if you were out to dinner, etc... go for it. wherever it is..

I think you will love it.

ALF said...

I can't wait to hear all about it! One of my life goals is to run a marathon...