Wednesday, September 5, 2007

Next Up:








Marathon. Wow. What is it about me that has to keep raising the bar to be satisfied?


Funny, up to this point, I've been thinking about the marathon as a means to an end - 10 plus weeks of focused running to improve that portion of the beast that is triathlon. Not that I haven't intellectually respected the distance, but, subconsciously, I've just seen it as one long training exercise. I have a feeling that will change when those long runs start exceeding the 3 hour mark.


Sigh. Well, I guess if we truly thought out everything we did, we'd never reach. If I'd taken the time to really analyze how triathlon training would effect my life, I might never had done it. And I would have missed out on all the intangible benefits that training has blessed me with. I could have predicted that it would change my body - though I think I expected more dramatic, visible changes than actually occurred. The other stuff - some things you never see coming and you're not supposed to. You just enjoy them when they fall on you - like unexpected rain in the desert. I suppose marathon training will bring similar blessings - and challenges - that I just can't see from where I'm standing.


So, I'll just take a step, then another, then another - and hopefully I'll reach that destination, just by putting one foot in front of the other. Its worked so far. After all, I'm here, aren't I? And Here is a really good place to be.

7 comments:

Lori said...

I would love to run the St. Jude marathon. Maybe next year I can think about that. I really want to do the St. Jude Memphis to Peoria run next summer. I am just blown away by that organization and think it would be such a moving event to be a part of.

21stCenturyMom said...

Running a marathon will allow you to realize that running a marathon is freakin' hard. Sorry. It is. But as is always the case - what doesn't kill us makes us stronger so go for it! It is a huge accomplishment and a good one.

Danielle in Iowa in Ireland said...

I was away and totally missed your race report in the deluge of posts in Google Reader. Congrats on an awesome race! I never had any doubt that you would do great! And yeah, the marathon is hard, but that's why you build up to it and just expect the last 6 miles to hurt a lot :-) You obviously are good at being a dedicated trainer, so you'll rock that too!

a.maria said...

ooooh yeah. the marathon bug. well... marathon training's way harder than triathlon training i've come to find out. with tri's.. you have a variety of things to do.

with running? not so much.

SO. be prepared for THAT.

howevah.. i've found running to be infitinely more giving in terms of what i learn about myself vs. triathlon, so... it has its upsides too!

but fyi.. they're not lying.

its hard. so definitely DO respect the distance, and you'll be totes fine!

Donald said...

In my opinion, there's NOTHING more difficult than racing a hard marathon. Not tris, not ultras ... nothing. Decide in advance whether you want to cruise it or race it - because if you're wanting to go fast, you better prepare your butt off.

Oh, yeah ... and have fun!

Anonymous said...

Woodworking Blog says:
Do I have to be supportive if your toenails turn black and fall off?

Vickie said...

I think you will really enjoy the marathon for what it is--something totally different from triathlon. But I can see that you don't see yet where that is leading you. Can you guess? Keep thinking big.