I am running the big 26.2 again this weekend. And I am feeling kind of nervous about it. I’ve been logging long weekend runs since July, but somehow it doesn’t seem like enough and I hope my body doesn’t crumple under the pressure somewhere around the 20 mile mark.
Because this is my second time around, I guess I was just hoping that I would finish at least one 20 miler and say, “wow, that was easy,” and that just hasn’t happened. Nearly every run this fall has ended with me thinking “Hang in. Just another mile. I can make it.”
About a month ago I rolled my right foot, and I took the next week off from running. Sometimes that side of my foot hurts during long runs, and I think I’m a little concerned that might flare up. Although it did not hurt last week when Kip and I ran 9 miles.
I have been less consistent with the weekday runs, some weeks running only a couple times a week in between long runs. I guess my average is somewhere between 20 and 35 miles a week. Not bad, but nowhere near the 100 miles I hear about marathoners running.
So as one of my dear friends reminded me this morning, I don’t have to finish. I don’t even have to run it. It’s good to remember that I signed up to run it because I wanted to.
I think if I let go of any sort of expectation of finish time and just enjoy the run, it should be great. The route goes through rolling farm land to the Pacific Ocean. It will be beautiful.
Music
My favorite singer-songwriter, Matt Kearney, finished his tour in Los Angeles this week. And thanks to my future sister-in-law who generously offered to babysit the kids last minute, Kip and I were able to go to the show.
It was amazing.
Matt Kearney has been my favorite running music for the past few months. Unlike other music I have run with, Matt Kearney is not high-energy rock or danceable hip hop, but sweet, thoughtful, poetic, gentle music -- road trip music.
“The world is too big to never ask why. The answers don’t fall, straight out of the sky….”
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