A New Year & 20 Days to ING Miami Marathon

It has been an interesting last couple of weeks to say the least. I can't decide which is stranger, running past two people 'physically' expressing their love to each other on the golf course or waking up one morning to be informed that I was sleep stretching, an interesting phenomenon that is exactly as the name suggests, actively stretching your muscles while sleeping. Christi brought to my intention that I had performed both the butterfly stretch and the knee to chest stretch while sleeping. I'm fairly confident that this warrants a generous research grant and it's own team of full time scientists.

In retrospect, the marathon training hasn't gone exactly as planned. First of all, I started the training program a mere 9 weeks ago with, be prepared for an understatement, mild back pain. I couldn't run 1 mile without my low back locking up and bringing me to a screeching halt. As time passed, and I implemented, finally, the program designed by the world's foremost expert in physical therapy, Steve Dischiavi, I began to feel better. Two weeks later, the Weston Rotary Half Marathon. 3rd place; respectable.

The 5 weeks since the 13.1 has been a tumultuous journey, both mentally and physically. Stress is an interesting thing, one day its a motivator, the next its debilitating. Stress is a dark, dangerous, and destructive beast. It's evil presents without logic or reason, preying on you during moments of weakness and vulnerability. The funny thing is, not so much funny, more sad, stress is completely internal. We create our own stress, it is merely a response to stimuli. Perception is everything.

In the last three Ironman training books I have read there is an impassioned 'warning' pertaining to an early triathlon season marathon. The warning heeds: marathons involve high volume, long distance, a big taper, and a fairly lengthy recovery period. Add all of those up and you are looking at a three week net loss in triathlon fitness. A staggeringly high opportunity cost; not exactly ideal.

I hadn't decided whether it was going to be the half or full for me in a little less than three weeks, until I wrote this gut wrenching and very moving post. Although I am confident I could have run my fastest marathon ever this year, 'could have' being the operative words, I have chosen to downgrade my marathon to a hopefully speedy and enjoyable 13.1. That leaves Christi and Mary in the A division, Justin, Victoria, Whitney, Carla, Rich, Roberto, Amy and I in the B division and Pat, Scott, Gord and Joe bringing up the rear in the S division (spectator that is;-).

See you on race morning, road.