So, October is in the books (pretend I wrote this 4 days ago, m'kay?). It was an interesting month, running wise. Here's what I did: ran the Chicago marathon, took part in the Tennessee Ragnar Relay, put 119 miles on my shoes, and ran one of the 10-miler races at Shelby Forest. What did I learn? A couple of important things, honestly. First, boy do I need to lose weight. I have to believe that more than anything else, the extra 35 pounds I'm carrying are getting in the way of my long runs. Sure, I can do 10 or 12 miles with no problem and I'm actually getting faster, but toting around the extra tonnage is keeping me from having a really good marathon. My best one so far is my first one and that was almost 20 pounds later than I am now. My best half came a month later. I truly believe that when I shed the extra weight, I will be in the best running shape of my life. My legs are much stronger, my body is getting more used to the rigors of running long distances and I'm pretty good at fueling properly at this time. I'll get back to this in a moment. But, let me get to my second point. I love to run. I love the races and traveling to different places to run. I enjoyed the Chicago marathon, but I also enjoyed the two other runs I did while in the Windy City. There's a certain pleasure in exploring a now locale by foot that you don't get by other transportation.
So, back to losing weight. I've started back with watching what I eat, counting calories and making sure that I have a deficit everyday. As usual, the first 6 or 7 pounds came right off. Now, it's down to losing 2 pounds a week for the next 12 or 13 weeks while getting ready for the MS River Marathon. Here's the deal I'm making with myself. If I lose the weight and have a bad race (for reasons that are within my control) or if I don't lose much weight and have a bad race, I'll give up running marathons until I get to a more appropriate weight. I won't sign up for one or even think about it until I do. I've tried using it as motivation and it doesn't work. I ran Chicago at a ridiculous weight for a "marathoner". I don't want to be one of those people who just finishes. No, I don't think I'll ever be in the top 10 of a big race, or the top 100. But, I want a time I can be proud of. Not just hear "hey, 90% of the country will never do what you did". I want to have a finish time south of 4 hours and maybe even one that could get me into Boston.
So, that's the deal. Lose the weight, have a good race and I'll keep doing marathons. Don't lose the weight and/or have a bad race because of something that I'm doing and I'm done until I can get everything in order. Maybe I'm not meant to run long distances, but I'll never know unless I give myself a chance and that's what I mean to do.
So, October's behind, I have 1 (or maybe 2 half marathons) in front of me and a trail 25K that will kick my ass if I don't get in great shape and might kick my ass even if I do and then the marathon.
So, the motto is: Two pounds a week, no excuses.
No comments:
Post a Comment