Friday, September 08, 2006

The Boys of Summer

There's a great Don Henley tune: "The Boys of Summer". One line in particular always hits me: "AFTER the boys of summer have gone".

Well, the boys of summer are about gone.

Running today the beaches were nearly empty even on a beautiful, sunny day. It's after Labor Day. School has started. Vacations are over. And the running feels better than ever.

I'm in a real dilemma. My running has been very consistent [except for that one week], I've enjoyed running more, I'm having more fun - BUT - my long runs have been terrible. AWFUL.

What to do about the marathon? I don't really have the will to line up and slug it out. I'll run the new Disneyland Half next weekend and the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Half marathon the week after. I may even run the Rock and Roll Half in San Jose. But, I just DON'T want to run the full.

ORN: 5 miles, 58 minutes, R5/W1 [run 5 minutes, walk one minute, and repeat]

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Run and do the marathon for the people who can't. When I "just can't run another step" I think about all the people who would like to run and just can't whether to disability, health, or simple lack of motivation. Just like the patients TNT participants run for (yeah I am a TNT alum and I heard you talk at the 06 Mayors Marathon – you were hilarious! My friend and I kept pointing to each other through your whole speech “that’s you, you do that!”)

Sometimes when I am feeling really snotty, I also run for the same reason, but with a more self-serving/selfish tone. I run because I am able to do something that someone else can’t do. I run because I couldn’t do this less than a year ago and now I am a marathon finisher. My brother can’t run a marathon, my friend can’t, but I can. This really kicks me in the butt when I am on the treadmill at the gym, I always try and run farther and longer than those on treadmills around me. No reason, they don’t know I am doing it, but I know that I ran farther, longer, and on a really rare occasion, faster.

Do it just for the simple reason you CAN do a full marathon.

Wes said...

One of the things you taught me, John, was that you need to feel it. If you are not feeling it, then there is another marathon down the road. It's the journey, right?

Unknown said...

Tough call. There are times when you need to listen to your body and there are times when you need to push through.

Why not keep training and decide about the fall marathon later?

IronWaddler said...

There are always other marathons on other days. Running a marathon has such a huge mental componet that it would be even worse to run it if not totally ready for it. You can't do it for anyone else -you need to do it for you!