Better yet, when will I heed what I've learned?
Even more so, can I possibly be this far off track?
Is anyone else wondering if I'll write this entry entirely in question form?
Let's backtrack a few months, shall we? (There I go again... sorry) After I finished August's Rock 'n' Roll Series Chicago half marathon in PR-shattering time, I had this great idea.
"Take a week off, run a long-run the following Sunday, and if you survive without incident, schedule another half for after the Detroit Free Press half in October," I said to myself.
So I did just that, and I did better than just "surviving." So I decided to register for October 23rd's St Louis inaugural Rock 'n' Roll half marathon event and do back-to-back weekends of running.
Why not? I ran very well (for me, at least) in Chicago, had plenty of training time with the Air Force marathon in my scopes, and hey, I'm a runner, I can do this.
Sure I can.
I got this.
Maybe not.
Since my disappointment in Dayton, I've been light on the training in the hope that proper diet and recovery time would help me negotiate Detroit's event just fine while not turning aches and pains into injuries. Unfortunately, that didn't happen, and now I've got the legs of an 80-year-old (not the one who ran a 3:25 marathon this past weekend, mind you) and am concerned that I've bitten off more than I can chew.
I'm not injured, per se, but I'm certainly not 100%.
Maybe I shouldn't be complaining. I have social networking "friends" who completed two marathons last weekend. I have other "friends" who are Ironman-caliber athletes, training for hours each day and doing things on the course I can only dream of (keep it clean... I mean time wise).
But that's just it... I don't have hours to train each day. I have no coach, limited time for medical care, even less time for PT, and I"m negotiating a move and a job change.
I also have friends who drink a lot of alcohol.
Why, then, do I insist on scheduling myself like I'm a single, childless, 20-something pro athlete when I could join my buddies at the bar and spin my yarns about wonderous times breaking PRs in the Windy City?
It's just about official, folks... my decision making paradigm needs a tune up.
I'm glad I have friends making their way to STL this coming weekend(both kinds... athletes and drinkers. A couple do both!), because I certainly will need someone to slap some sense into my head and remind me that old people don't heal well, so stop taking this stuff seriously and then training for it lightly.
Hmm... maybe I DON'T need them to remind me.
Ok, if you believe any one thing I ever write to you, this HAS to be it... do NOT, under ANY circumstances, over extend yourself without a solid training and recovery plan. You need to be spot on with your goal, then meet it with a war-time sense of urgency and compliance. Don't deviate from your plan, and if you find that you under planned, reconsider your goal attainment date.
These races get pricey, and in today's economy it's sometimes hard to justify "throwing away" $100 in race fees because, "Well, I'm just not sure I'm ready." But if that's what you're saying, you may want to listen.
For all the running I've done this year, I was nowhere near ready for the marathon in Sept., and the damage I did to my body then has not been fully repaired, so I'm now hobbling into the central time zone with a half-ass idea that I'm actually going to be able to run another 13.1 miles.
I'm going to do it... because I'm not smart enough to say, "No... I've had enough." Same reason I like catching on a softball team... please come run into me at the plate. I like having the sense knocked out of me. It lets me see that I still have some.
More to follow, gentle reader. That is, if my upper body still works after having to drag my carcass across the finish line next Sunday.
Peace, love and band-aids.... nothing fixes a sucking chest wound better.
