Sometimes life gets in the way of racing. We found out in November that my husband’s brother needed a kidney and I learned that giving one takes a long time. So we went on with our busy lives while he was being tested and part of that was my training for the San Francisco Marathon in July. There was no way of really knowing if I would get there, but I chose to train anyway ( having also signed up for the Chicago Marathon in October). The transplant, which ended up being in Seattle the weekend of the race, was very successful and truly an amazing thing. My admiration for my husband (aka Bold Pace Music) and his brave generosity overflows. Race interrupted for great cause, time to move on in another direction.
After consulting a few sources about adjusting my training schedule for a later marathon, I decided to take a few weeks off with minimal running. It was good advice. I did discover the beautiful Burke-Gilman Trail that passes the front door of the University of Washington Medical Center on my morning walks to Starbucks (I walk for lattes too). I shared the road on a few beautiful sunny 70 degree days with many runners and bikers. Seattle is dense with healthy looking citizens. I think the break mentally was more important than the physical rest. Motivation is hard to keep up over an extended period of time training. I am happy to have returned to the road, but it has not been a seamless transition. We spend months working on our conditioning and it seems to take no time to lose it…I did an 18 mile long run this weekend and felt like I was crawling home. There is some work to be done. Today it was the track for mile repeats (why does the third mile always seem longer?)–ouch.
I was excited to hear that they changed the date of the Boston Marathon registration to October 18, 2010 which gives all those running an early marathon a chance to qualify for this year. I thought I would miss that window so this will add fuel to the training fire. Eight more weeks to fine tune the running…bring it on.
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Hey Monica–Again, what an amazing thing your husband did and so glad it went off well!
I think every marathon I have ever trained for has some interruption to it–it never goes according to plan. You will be back on track (you are literally, right?) in no time. Your time will not reflect any time off, I’m sure!
.-= Amanda´s last blog ..Sick in Sydney =-.