marathon???

I was asked yesterday by somebody if they should run it.. I can't make that decision for somebody but I know one thing.. The marathon is not about the race; it's about the training.

1- somedays the training sucks, the humidity and heat of the summer is difficult to fight through and knowing you will run five or six days per week is difficult to wrap your head around. It's not a commitment of 4+ hours on a Sunday in September, it's the half a year of training that takes you from 20 miles per week to a grueling 40.

2- some-days the training rocks. I can almost take more pride in completing a 20 mile run in the downpour yesterday which involved two five mile central-park loops and then a run to Park Slope. I love how my body transforms from early May when I dread an 8 mile run to how invigorating an 18 or 20 mile run feels in Early October. I have written often about the trials and tribulations of running but for me it's meditating as I can completely clear my mind and focus on the next step (literally)


3-Regardless of what happens Race Day Rocks. (Or sucks)
The culmination is obvious in Marathon training.. You wake up all those mornings and run at 6am or after work at 6pm to get you ready for the first Sunday in November. It can rock like it did for me in 2007 when I ran comfortably and really took in the atmosphere or it can blow like it did for me in 2008 when I cramped up at mile 18 and suffered through the next agonizing 8 miles in a run-walk-stretch-run routine where I saw valuable minutes fall off the clock.
This was also the race where I had merlot colored urine, but with all that it was still sort of enjoyable.

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