Thursday Thoughts : marathon training...or not.

My thoughts towards marathon training have been all over the map lately.  There's the part of me that says my body clearly does not want to handle the level of training that my mind says I can handle.  There's also the part of me that says I am not a quitter and I'm not going to let anything get in my way. 

Maybe I keep having setbacks because my goals are beyond what my body is capable of.  Maybe I keep having setbacks because I am just too enthusiastic about training and I keep upping my mileage/pace too quickly.  Maybe I keep having setbacks just because life happens and luck has not been on my side.  It's probably a combination of all 3 scenarios...

Now that I've lost a full month of marathon training, I was seriously considering deferring my Pittsburgh Marathon entry for a year.  Not because I think it is impossible for me to be ready for the race in May, but more just to take the self-induced pressure off myself for awhile.  And also because I will be chaperoning a week-long field trip to Tybee Island/Savannah with my middle school students the week before the marathon and so I will already be exhausted when I hit the starting line.  The timing of this field trip + marathon will not be kind to me.  BUT, it turns out the Pittsburgh Marathon does not give you the option to defer entry for a year, like some races do.  So, I'm going to run the race this year, but am currently working on convincing myself not to care about my finish time, but just to run the race for love of the run. 

I know I still have plenty of time to prepare for the race and maybe I will magically manage to get adequate sleep on the field trip and arrive in Pittsburgh well-rested and ready to crush the race, but realistically that is unlikely. 

After several weeks of just a few 3-4 mile runs per week, I have successfully run two 6 mile runs so far this week, and my foot seems to be doing ok.  I have new orthotics to help take pressure off my tendonitis, and today I test-ran a new pair of Hokas that are nice and stiff to help reduce the bending in my foot as I run, which should also help.  It's still too early to go back to planning long runs, but I'm starting to feel more optimistic about being able to resume training rather than needing to take a month completely off. 

Today, I'm grateful for a fabulous test-run in my new Clifton 4s, with a last mile fast-finish of 6:56.

I'm also grateful for shorts weather twice in one week, in February.

And, of course, I'm grateful for my running buddies!