Marathon Training - How Important is it?

Hanging out with friends...

It has been a crazy couple months. I wish I could say that I was logging miles judiciously and that I was maintaining the same active lifestyle that carried me through 7 hours of surgery and allowed me to run a half marathon 6 months post craniotomy. Despite running two half-marathons, in a month (between October 26 and November 25), I have not been good about training. I would like to make the excuse of new job and then lots of freelance hours, but truthfully, there is no excuse. I trained for my marathon working 40+ hours a week while communing 15 and still managed to get a run in. What has changed?

At a recent gathering among running friends, they were curious to see when my next marathon would be. Early in the year, I was planning to do the LA Marathon in March 2014.  Now, there is no time to get my body conditioned to run that distance by March and I have no idea when my next race can be. I told them that I was busy with work and freelance writing and producing, but to satisfy my own soul I needed to do a marathon soon. I don’t want to be a “one and done racer” This caught them extremely off-guard because it seemed given my drive, I’ve done ore than one marathon.

I love running, but I’m discovering and admitting the simple truth about marathon training— it’s a lot of work. I get the one and done mentality. It’s tough when your friends have a get-together and you have to leave early so you can be well-rested before your long run. In general, you become vigilant with making sure you’re  getting enough sleep and the proper nutrition. I simply don’t know if I can become that singularly focused again after spending so much of my extra mental capacity and stamina on burning the candle at both ends to work on my career.

It’s never a wrong time to have a paradigm shift. You don’t need to wait until January 1. (Which seems to be a theme that resonates through my posts this time of year.) You can always say, “today’s the day, I’m going to start training for a marathon”

Do I know what my next race will be? No. It might not be a marathon, but I know running more than 10 miles a week is in my future, along with setting a PR with my next race.  The goal is also to set a PR in my career as well. Perhaps, this is enough? Perhaps not? I’m making a goal to make room for unexpected happiness. I will still plan and plot. Ultimately, I will get back into marathon shape, but for right now, there is more to life than running.

LA Marathon 2013

The Marathon-

It’s 26.2 miles of unknown. No matter how many marathons you’ve done, there is no way of knowing what will happen during your race miles. A pebble inside your shoe at mile 5 or another runner cuts you off, tripping you… and then, there’s the WALL. It’s out there looming for most runners. People run the marathon for all kinds of reasons— for charity, because it has been burning in their soul, to beat their last race time.  I want to do another race, and just need to set aside the time to train, but I feel like my brain surgery and recovery took up so much time, now that I’m not putting all my energy into healing, I’m doing all those other things I couldn’t do while healing.

I still enjoy those long runs, even if I’m not logging 20 miles on Saturday. The long runs vary and for the most part have been done with my running buddy.  For all the years I’ve known him he has vehemently opposed the test of 26.2 miles.  Yet, on March 17, I found myself cheering him on for his first marathon.

 

A friend at work strong armed him into signing up and since we’ve logged so many miles together had so much smack talk and has been like a brother, I decided to organize a relay team to pass him of like a baton between the miles. I knew ego would forbid him from dropping out, but a relay team that essentially has him on a leash would be an even bigger barrier and keep him company through the solitude of the miles and help push him through the wall when his body gets cold and achy.

We started the relay around mile 9 and it continued until our last relay team sent him through the shoots and to his finish. It’s too soon to goad him into another race, and it’s too soon for me to contemplate a race, but the race is out there on the horizon… My next race just might be side by side with a friend rather than in the solitude.