|
In the beginning...
Oh my God, what have I done?
I've committed to a marathon, and it's a scarey thought. I'm filled with all kinds of doubt and uncertainty... distances, discipline, injuries, family hassles, work constraints, lack of time, lack of enthusiasm etc etc ad infinitum... it's enough to put me off my sports drink and energy gels.
Of course, as someone famous whose name escapes me once said, if you already know for sure that you can do something, then it's not a challenge. And challenge is definitely something I need in my mid-life crisis existence. And I guess there's no such thing as a challenge without doubt and uncertainty. Well that's alright then. I feel better now. Coz I have plenty of doubt and uncertainty, so I guess I must be on the right track, yes? As Zaphod Beeblebrox said during a lucid moment when the starship Heart of Gold came under attack from the Golgafrinchams, "Wow, we really must be onto something if they're trying to kill us!"
My running to date, I guess like that of a lot of people, is a constant struggle with motivation. It's not that the running is necessarily unpleasant, but everything seems to conspire against me (oh woe is me!) - either it's too late, or too early, or the weather's awful, or friends are coming over, or I've just eaten, or the dog needs to be taken to the vet, or I'm late for work, or I just can't flaming well be bothered going for a stinking run, okay...?
But then, every day that goes by sans run, provides one less day of training, and one day closer to the deadline (race day), adding twice the pressure and making it even more difficult to get out the door the next day.
So, I finally persuade my reluctant body to get out for a run, knowing all be well once I actually hit the street. And I struggle through an embarrassingly short distance in an embarrassingly long time, add it to my running log, look at the amount of training still required and nearly cry with the stupidity of it. The beer and the chocolate bar stare at me steadily, with their all-seeing, all-knowing calorific wisdom, understanding intimately that time is on their side, and ultimate patience wins ultimately. And it sends me cold. And when you put it like that, then that other icy substance, determination, makes itself available and off we go again... and that deadline doesn't seem so impossible after all.
Of course, if I simply stopped thinking about it quite so much and instead just ran the sodding miles without over-analysing it to blazes, this marathon business would be a cinch. So that's what I'm going to do. I think.
Oh, er. Um.
Okay MLC Man, snap out of it... just do it kiddo. Right.
Anyway, enough of this maudlin talk; let me tell you about the race I'm aiming for. Hobart is the capital of the island state of Tasmania, and my home town -- the place where I lived for the first 28 years of my life before escaping to South Australia years ago *. So it seems a fitting place for my marathon debut. It's sponsored by Cadbury and runs around the Cadbury chocolate factory (proof that chocolate is a training food!) and along the banks of the Derwent River and promises to be a particularly beautiful run. It's scheduled in early January, which of course is summer down here, but January is rarely blisteringly hot in Hobart (I've seen snow on the mountain in January) and the race starts at 6 a.m. just in case. It's a small race (only 50 finishers this year) so a far cry from London or Chicago... in fact I doubt many Hobartians would even know their city has a marathon each year. I guess the lack of crowds will make the race a little harder motivation-wise; on the other hand, smaller numbers probably means more personalised barracking and a greater sense of achievement, perhaps? I don't know - perhaps all you marathon veterans out there can tell me?
What I do know is that now that I have some running under my belt, I do believe this is achievable, and so the more I think about it, the more exciting it's becoming. And I know that if I follow Andy's training and diet regime that has been so carefully chronicled on this site, then I'm a dead-set cert to finish. And being sponsored by a chocolate manufacturer can only help, yes? I'll probably get that glass and a half in this evening. In fact, it'll be a doddle.
MLC Man.
*HTML joke.
|
In the beginning...
