How quickly 4 months of work drains into a mere 4 hours. Well, 4+ hours to be honest. Still. It's a weird feeling and some very surreal moments certainly follow. One thing about it, I can never claim to not be a gambler. That's all marathoning is, at least for us novices. (I suppose the elites race often enough to get their alignment down to a fine art.) Gambling on one morning's weather forecast, gambling on being sick-free and injury-free on one specific day, gambling on all your bodily functions agreeing with you, gambling on whether you wake up and have an 'on' day... and paying money to do it! But I still profess that there's that excitement at the starting line that pays it all off, rewarding race or not.
So the goal was to get back in the game this year. After last year's crash and burn, I wanted some redemption. While that came in a time 10 minutes slower than I had hoped for, I'm trying to be good with that. Could I have pushed harder in those last few miles? Yup. Would I like to rerun those last few miles differently? Sure would. I keep replaying it in my head. Satisfied? No. But disappointed? Can't be. (See thoughtful moment of the day in part 2.) I'll take it and look ahead.
So yes, I am planning on round 4 already. Addictions are hard to break, and I figure there are worse addictions to have, although my friends and family may disagree! But here's the thing: I was thinking last night about some 'what ifs' on several accounts, and here's why I'm ready to find the next race. I can do better. I have more in me. And maybe it is a gamble, but what if I actually ran on a flat course? What if I put in just a little more effort in training? What if the weather didn't include gale forces or icy roads like in Austin? What if I had an 'on' day and hit the wall late in the race or not at all? What if those things happened to align...?
It’s so worth finding out!
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