One More Mile

Earlier this week, I switched my registration from the Austin Half Marathon to the Full Marathon.  26.2 miles of running - what was I thinking?  I did run the OKC Memorial Marathon in 2008, but to steal a phrase from my buddy; I thought that I ran two marathons that day – my first, and my last.  Well, apparently not.  It is too late, I am now committed and my pride is on the line.  Ok, ok, the real motivator is that I was charged an extra 55 bucks which was the price difference in the half and the full plus a 10 dollar processing fee. 

The whole thing kind of snuck up on me this time.  It is definitely something that I didn’t seek out to do.  After the Route 66 half marathon in November, I decided that I was going run 10 miles each weekend to keep from getting out of shape during the Holidays and get a head start on training for the Austin Half.  I stuck to my plan for two weeks, but then I wasn’t satisfied with the distance and thought, “Well, I will do 12 today.”  That kept escalating and next it was 13, then 14, then 16 etc. etc.   I got to the point, where I was significantly through the necessary training for a marathon without even realizing it.  Then my wife made me a list (that’s what she does – list after list) of the top 8 reasons to run another marathon.  Reason 6 was that it would give me an excuse to wear more spandex and that was the clincher! 

It has been a really fun and low stress experience this time. I haven’t really been following a plan and I am not taking it too seriously.  I usually set out to run significantly less than I do, but end up enjoying it so much that I start thinking “Just one more mile” every time I get towards the end.  That was the case this week. I had planned to give myself a recovery week and run a much lower distance, but ended up running a 22 miler yesterday.    

I get extra motivation from my trusty companion, Toby Dogg.  I started taking him running earlier this year and he has gotten to where he can run almost as far as I can.  He ran his farthest yesterday when he went 20.  It is too bad that he can’t run the event with me – I think he could do it. 

Maybe it is the fact that I have done one before or maybe it is because I was able to run 18 miles before I realized that I was training for a marathon, but the training has been much more zen like this time around.  Rather than looking at the long run I face each Saturday as a chore, I have been seeing them as a way to unplug, spend time with my hound, acquaint myself with new music, and clear my head.  Hopefully the next month will be as good as the last few and the marathon itself will just be the celebration that is the culmination of all the training.