Marathon Meltdown

by - Tuesday, April 06, 2010

It's rare you get two posts from me in one day, but I'm in a pickle and need some running advice.

Remember last week when I was super gung ho about deciding which marathon to run this fall? You all gave me some awesome advice and I was 99% sure I was going to register for the Marine Corp Marathon and decide about Baltimore later, maybe even doing both to achieve Maniac status.

But now I'm having a freak out.

Do I realllllly want to run a marathon this fall?

Do I reallllly want to sacrifice my summer weekends to fit in super long runs (17, 18, 19, 20 milers).

Or would I rather spend my summer training for half marathons? My favorite distance. Manageable long runs that don't require the death of my social life. Nothing longer than two hours. The ability to still be able to walk after finishing a training run.

Or do I want to push myself to tackle 26.2 again? No doubt 26.2 is an awesome challenge.

But so is 13.1. It's not as much of a challenge as it used to be to do the distance, but now I can focus on improving times and having fun.

Running for me has always been about having fun. I'm not fast so I'm not running to win anything. I'm running for the experience. For the joy of accomplishing something challenging, and yea, maybe a little bit for the sweet race bling.

My college roomie gave me some good advice. She said:

Above all you always tell me running should be fun so if it fills you with dread that is bad. However if you think this is just a momentary setback and tomorrow you will feel differently then that is ok!

Right now, I don't know if I'm dreading the thought that MCM registration is tomorrow or if this is just a blip. Either way, I have to decide what to do. I don't want running to feel like a burden this summer. I want it to be fun like always, but at the same time, I'm grappling with all kinds of "do I want to challenge myself to do this and push myself for this goal" issues.

Issues that I need to sort out by tomorrow at noon. Help!

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