I’ll let you in on a not so secret secret

Running a Marathon is hard.

I’ll let you in on another not so secret secret

Training for a marathon is even harder.

Yup, I said it.

I think that the training is just as demanding as running the actual marathon,

maybe even more so because you don’t tend to have cheering fans on a training run even if using Nike+

but

in a very different way.

Yes, Running a Marathon is VERY hard

as the saying goes,

It really is the truth.

Now, I’m not saying that everyone has to run a marathon if you don’t want to.

What I’m saying is that since I for some reason have said that I’m going to run a marathon, I need to train so that I can finish said marathon.    Anyone who has read the last few posts, might know that I’ve been struggling.    My struggles though have been more mental which has made my running suffer.   I made the mistake of letting the doubts creep in.   Yes, everyone has doubts time to time.   The trick is to use your doubts to motivate you to push through not give you an excuse to fail.   I needed to take a step back.   A brief one as I’m running out of time to flub my training.   I messed up a run.   I missed some runs.   I was becoming my own worst enemy.   I needed to get out of my way and just run.

I went back and looked at my training runs realizing that I was able to do these runs that I was flubbing.   I talked to Dawn.   I talked with my coach.   Both had very similar words of advice for me.

” You have done so well with this training and IT IS NOT EASY. “

NO it’s not easy.   I never expected it to be easy, but even though I ran a marathon last year; this is my first time marathon training.   I just did not take into account how hard it would be, but I’m realizing that is a good thing.    I need it to be hard.   I need to push myself.   I want to do this and most of all I want to enjoy doing this.

Today, I went for a training run where I did not worry about my pace.   I needed this run to get my head in the game.   I only wanted to finish my 9 miles.   I downloaded a mix on my Rock My Run App, put on my sun block, loaded up with water, and out the door I went.   I used to run to think about why I started on this journey.   I really just fell into running because of my first Sprint Triathlon.   I hated it, but over time I realized what it brought into my life.    That although not a “fast” runner, I could be a steady runner.   It was something that I did for me.   I also thought about how far of come, how much I’ve accomplished, and how much I can still accomplish if I just keep my head on straight.

Back to the run.   I did it.   I did what I set out to accomplish.   Running just to run.   Running for the joy I get out of it.   Then when I looked at my splits, I realized that I wasn’t that far off pace from what my training plan called for 20-25 seconds.    Average pace ended up being 11:06 in 1:37:12.   My head is back in the game….   At least for today!