10/13/2011

Valium, please? - the 'Why am I freaking out over this marathon?' post

This Sunday. Another marathon - that's the plan. With a 65K planned on November 27th (oh boy, I really really hope that one works out! :) Fun! :)), I planned on making a training run out of this marathon. Go with the flow. Taking it easy. Enjoying the run.

That is...until the Twitter gang (they mean the world to me) started to predict finishing times. Based on the recent half marathon I ran in Koeln, Germany (2 weeks ago). On a hot day...a really hot day. Blah! Finishing times that are way out of my league. And that's when I started to freak out.

'Training run' turned into 'Boy, they'll think I suck when I don't finish in a kick ass fast time'. Freak out in...3, 2, 1. But, let's face it...I had a great new marathon PR at the Edinburgh Marathon last May. I finished my first 50-miler and had a blast. New 10 mile PR last September and new Half Marathon PR this month. I've had some great races this year. So, why jinx it? Exactly... After the Swiss Alpine Ultra on July 31th, I just kept base mileage up, but didn't really pay attention to speedwork. I just ran. Wanted to enjoy those runs. And I did. That 65K is what I'm focussing on.

So, - despite of the 'freak out' part - I'll go into this marathon as a training run. A fun run. A 'here goes nothing' run. :)

And I'm fine with that. :)

5 comments:

T said...

I'm about to go and tweet you some new goals.

Char said...

That's the best way to do - take all the pressure off and just see how you feel once you get running. Good luck.

Cody Hudman said...

You are right, just use it for training. I have a 50 miler next week and I just did the Chicago marathon as training without worrying about my time. I have never enjoyed a marathon so much. Take it all in and just enjoy yourself :)

Unknown said...

Oh my God, you are crazy piece of runner! I thought you were already freaking out about the NYC and no, you have few more races to kick in before!!! :) Lot of motivation for my troubled body to be ready there hopefully we will meet and run side by side for a while. Have fun and enjoy, that's what I have to do with NYC since the no running break... And BTW, I am sure you will rock that race!

Gert said...

Just enjoy the run, sweet Christel! :-)