2 days to Columbus

Here I am, sitting comfortably at my computer 2 days before the Columbus Marathon. Because of an unfortunate injury which I've already discussed in previous posts, I'll only be able to complete the 1/2 marathon this year. I have mixed emotions about it. On one side, I'm only running 13.1 and when I'm done my body most likely won't feel trashed with the shorter distance. On the other side, I had set some really lofty goals like completing my first marathon while I was 35 and doing it in a Boston Qualifying time (3:15). Training for this event was unlike anything that I've ever done before. Training for a bike race is different. Sure, you spend lots of time training hard just like you do for running, but if you get hurt, sick, get unlucky or have a bad day on the bike, there's another bike race somewhere the next weekend that you can travel quickly to and have another go at it. With running, it's not like that (or at least it just doesn't appear to me that way). With marathon training, I focused all of my attention and energy to running to make sure my body was ready for the big goals that I set. I dedicated almost 5 months of my life to a singular event. Running is so physically demanding that racing the next weekend if something happens to go wrong most likely just isn't an option. Unfortunately with the fracture, I can't take a stab at even completing the marathon this year. I'm currently only up to running 9 miles at a time and trying to take a stab at 26 is just asking for another injury. That's just something that I can't risk. The 5 months of training for Columbus could be looked at as completely down the drain. Those were 5 months that I could have been on my bike riding with good friends that I haven't been able to keep in touch with because we don't share that commonality at the moment. Do I regret it? Absolutely not. I'm still in decent shape, just not cycling shape. Will I take a stab at another marathon? Absolutely. Just not sure when and what my plan is for 2009 yet. I still have 13.1 more miles to go this Sunday before I think about next year.

brian