First off, I did an interview on UFTUF (my book "Ultra-Fat to Ultra-Fit," or 'ufff-tuff' if you prefer) with Sherri Horner over at Health Fitness Broadcast. It's a longish interview, but I managed to keep my use of profanity and non sequiturs to an absolute minimum...
Now then, it has come to my attention that this weekend is the Chicago Marathon, the crown jewel of my running year. I know I've barely talked about my training, and that's because I don't say anything if there's nothing nice to say*. My training has gone horribly. During the year, I've worked a challenging job, bought a house, moved, and slogged through both a remodel and a refinance. This has been horribly straining on both my relationship with Susan and my marathon preparations and, if something had to give, it was going to be my training.
The net result is ugly; I've only got about 85% of the miles I ran last year, without a lot of the quality sessions that build speed and strength. My goal at the beginning of the year was to run under three hours for the marathon, my last significant running goal for myself. It now appears that this will be impossible, at least for this year.
Adversity is something we all have to face when we set challenging goals for ourselves. Rather than abandon the goal, I will set a new one: next year I will make my attempt to break three hours, most likely at the 2011 Chicago Marathon. I will also plan to run the Boston Marathon in April and maybe a few smaller events along the way.
However, just because I don't believe that I am capable of something doesn't mean I won't give it a shot. I'm not exactly in horrible shape, and miracles do occasionally happen. This Sunday, I'll be on the starting line, and I'll run with the three hour pacing group as long as I can. Once I crack, though, I'm done; There is a very good chance I will blow up 13-18 miles into the race, and slogging in to finish with a slow time is not how I roll.
So if you happen to be up and about in Chi-town early on Sunday morning, keep an eye out, I might be passing by. Hopefully still at a run.
*This is not, strictly speaking, true, but it made for a good transition, didn't it?
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Noah, I FINALLY bought your book a couple weeks ago. I made it through the first couple chapters, and now I cannot find the damn thing! I WILL find it eventually, though. This is what happens when you leave a book on the coffee table and tell the kids to clean up their messes. I have enjoyed it so far. Very intriguing!
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