Monday, May 22, 2017

Grandmas Marathon

Last Wednesday, I may have temporarily lost my damn mind. I was feeling wistful about my winter/spring training cycle and feeling a little bummed with how my race turned out. That led to my brain thinking about 26.2 miles and considering Grandma's Marathon in 2018. I went on to the website to see when the race was in 2018, and realized that 2017 wasn't yet sold out.

Wait.

What?!

[insert gears starting to turn here]

If my legs recovered from this half, asap, I could squeeze in two long-long runs and a taper to do Grandma's. My training for the Brookings Half was really strong, with consistent weekly mileage, and mid-week long runs. At one point, Toni and I were on a run and I told her the only difference between our training and marathon training was that our long runs were 2 hours on the weekend instead of three. Hmmm.....

I sent a text message to Toni expecting her to jump right in. AND SHE SAID NO.

What?!?!?

This was unexpected. She's gone along with all of my crazy hair-brained ideas for the past six months, and is even on board with my insane 3 year running plan for us. No?! I'm sorry, I'm unsure what that word means.

[It should be noted that at mile 11 of Brookings, I thought, VERY LOUDLY, as thoughts often are during a run/race, that I was SO THANKFUL that I wasn't running 26.2 miles.]

We went for our run, my first since the half, and my left knee hurt. I mentioned to Kyle that I was considering running a marathon in a month, and he said no (to be clear, I never listen to him and his opinions, but it was worth noting, I suppose), and I'm scheduled to work that weekend. All signs point to no.... I think.

I think I'm just bummed that I didn't hit the time I feel like I was capable of for Brookings, and wanted to use my training for another goal. I should be (and am) excited about taking 11 minutes off of my time from 2016 to 2017 on the Brookings course, AND that's in 20 degrees warmer. It's also 4 minutes faster than my half in October on a much cooler day as well.

The next time I toe the line for a 26.2 mile race, I will do so with the confidence and training to back up a PR marathon effort. So I just need to remember that every mile between now and then helps to work toward that goal.



1 comment:

Laura Tisdell said...

I am doing Grandma's this year - it will be my second marathon and my second time doing Grandma's (first was in 2015). It would be awesome to know you were out on the course (even though I've never met you)! But totally understand your mindset;) hehe!