i might be wrong

November 18, 2007. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Marathon Day. Yikes.

Ok. I've slacked off on training the last 6 weeks or so, but I'm back in it and according to people who have done this before, I'm still in good shape. Since this is my first marathon, my only goal is to finish. In the beginning I had a crazy idea that I'd run fast enough to qualify for Boston, but that was a dream. My first 15 mile run burst that bubble. I gained a healthy respect for the distance and realize that finishing a marathon will be satisfaction enough.

I dread going out on long runs by myself. It's lonely. Strangers feel the need to call out to me. I get angry about the distance and the pain and there's no one to complain to or who can relate. Plus it's boring. I haven't been able to find a running partner this year, but I have found ways to make the hours out there on the road a bit more interesting. Instead of running loop after loop around Central or Prospect Park or back and forth along the West Side Highway, I've figured out a bunch of point to point routes. This weekend the NYRR Club is holding their Poland Spring Marathon Kick-off Run. It's 5 miles in Central Park (thankfully, it skips the Harlem Hills). I'm planning to run that race and then an additional 15 or so miles. The map above is a course I've figured out using mapmyrun.com. It'll take me from Central Park at 62nd Street, over to the West Side Highway to Chambers, over to the Brooklyn Bridge, along Adams, then State, then Vanderbilt, over to Prospect Park. I'll do a loop around Prospect Park and then take the short way home from there. That's a total of 21.75 miles.

My training schedule has me at 23 miles this weekend, but every coach I've talked to about this says there is absolutely no reason for me to do more than 20 before the marathon. I'm going to listen to them and ignore the training schedule (which shouldn't be hard since I've been pretty much ignoring for the last 6 weeks). The timing is perfect. This long run comes exactly 3 weeks before the marathon. The experts say a 2 or 3 week taper is necessary for recovery before running a marathon.

After being terrified for a couple of weeks, I'm beginning to get my confidence back. That 6 week slump did not help my speed or confidence, but I still have time to get some of it back.