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| Photo from last year’s DC Rock n’ Roll Half-Marathon |
This weekend, I’m slated to run my second DC Rock n’ Roll Half-Marathon.
I suck at training for half-marathons. Meaning…I don’t train for half-marathons.
My mind goes, you’re going to work hard and spend time training for a measly 13.1 miles? That is not to make half-marathons sound short (they aren’t!) but after conquering the 26.2 many times, it’s such a drastic difference.
So…every time I run a half-marathon, I act like it’s no big deal. I’m just running for fun, I say. Then, we cross the starting line and all of the sudden I’m like, “Oh I totally want to PR this thing.”
Since I never train, it’s actually not that hard to PR because it’s just a matter of how decent my body happens to be feeling that day.
My half-marathon PR is 1:51. Imagine what that number might look like if I actually put in a little pre-race effort.
Also, I’m actually signed up for the full marathon. I did this last year. After the fall marathon season, I have every intention of training my butt off for the world’s fastest spring marathon. Then, it’s Christmas break, it’s cold, I’m lazy, my knee hurts, I give up training.
Still…the weeks toward the marathon countdown a little notion in my mind says, you should just run the full marathon without training and see what happens.
Bucket list: Run a full marathon without training.
Another weird, horrible thing on my bucket list? Run 20 miles on a treadmill. Why do I want to do this? Not sure but…I do. Especially after I saw that Dorothy ran 30 miles on a treadmill last month. What? Yes, that’s right, 30 miles.
The point is that whether I run the half-marathon or the marathon next Saturday, I’m unprepared. The quote above is from an old article I read about Back on My Feet. It’s a quote from a former addict talking about his addict days, when he lied a lot and made excuses. When it comes to running, you just can’t do that.
When I ran the Marine Corps Marathon less than 2 weeks after the Baltimore Marathon in 2011, I said I’d never run a marathon unprepared or without adequate time in between again. It sucked. I couldn’t convince that thing that my legs were well-rested.
Respect the distance. Respect the race. Respect your limitations.
Then, you can get one these and feel good about it:
When I take off past that starting line next week, I’m gonna wish I had trained. I’m gonna wish I had what it took to run the -1:45 half-marathon I know is possible but I won’t be able to convince it that I’ve trained. That being said, if I run 1:50, it will be a miracle.
Either way, I’ll love the rush, the race, the crowds and most definitely — the finish line.