I have a confession to make. Today is the first time I've trained in about 6 weeks. It is embarrassing that I let one or two missed workouts turn into 25 or so missed workouts. On the other hand I am quite proud of myself that I got back on the road and am continuing towards my goal. I am easily excited about different endeavors that come along. I am passionate about new interests but once the newness wears off or it becomes challenging I tend to give up.
The past month and a half I have been battling the urge to call it quits on this marathon. I came up with so many excuses that were good enough for me. But then you all came to my rescue. Several of my friends, family, and co-workers asked me how my training was going. Each of these encounters reminded me of the commitment I made to my supporters and more importantly to myself. Even if I have to crawl across the finish line three hours after they've re-opened the course to vehicle traffic, I am going to finish this!
Since it's been soooo long since my last run I started my training program over. Being out of practice I didn't want to be too overwhelmed by trying to pick up where I should be at. It would also be impossible to make up the sessions I missed by adding extra workouts each week. I missed too many. So I went online, entered my deadline and how many workouts/week I can manage, and Adidas pops out a training schedule for me. Today's session, my first in 6 weeks, couldn't have been a nice 30 or 45 minute jog...it was a 2 hour 30 minute long jog. That's an hour longer than anything I've done before. I wanted to give up all over again, but my excuses weren't good enough this time. Besides, that ridiculously long workout was a result of missing so many others. With just over 3 months until the marathon I've got to start with longer distances because there isn't much time left to train.
I got up and did it. I went 11 miles (mostly power walking) in that 2.5 hours. Not the pace I need to be at, but the important thing is I did it. Along the way I enjoyed the sights and smells of summer. I stepped in hidden mud puddle about 6 miles along. I was shocked that my initial reaction wasn't being upset that one of my new shoes was entirely covered in mud. I was more overcome with the relief of the mud soaking through my shoe and sock and cooling my extremely overheated feet. Experience is always the most efficient teacher. Today I learned I should have run the route in the other direction. It really stinks being stuck with a 300 ft elevation rise (that's about the equivalent of a 30 story building's height) in the last two miles when you've already gone nine. This afternoon I definitely hurt. Tomorrow I will surely hurt more. But that's part of the fun of a marathon isn't it?
