After traveling and working for nine days straight, I can confidently say that I miss my little NorCal life and am ready to go home. Traveling is one thing, traveling alone is another, and traveling for work is just an entirely different ball game. I’ve worked from (and consumed) more Starbucks in one time period than ever before and will be likely needing a chai tea latte detox (I never thought I’d utter such words). New York, Boston and Chicago, thank you for welcoming me and giving me a small taste of your urban-goodness, and more specifically, thank you Chicago for lighting my fire again.
As you may recall, due to work I will have to forgo my A-race for this fall. I wrote about the possible alternatives for a fall marathon and all of you chimed in with your thoughts on the contenders. I thought long and hard about the decision while also considering the next couple of months in my personal and work life and came to a strangely difficult decision:
I will not be running a marathon this fall.
Why did deciding this pain me so much? It’s not like I was giving up running and the races that I did have planned (e.g. Las Vegas) will simply become a half marathons. But still, something inside of me wondered if I lost my mojo.
But there’s something special about one of the world majors. I’ve never spectated one before but when 50,000 people all share the same energy, focus and excitement to run 26.2 miles, it’s inspiring, or maybe better put, invigorating. With the energy still fresh and in an attempt to not insanely register for something in the heat of the moment, I’ll renew my focus this fall.
Goal: be fast like Katie. She just ran a 3:06 Marathon in Portland!
Next weekend is the Nike Women’s half marathon. I didn’t win the contest (thanks for your votes, though!), but with almost every Bay Area blogger I know running it, I’m going to run for pure pleasure. I know that some mock me and say, “Page, you NEVER run for just pleasure.” HA! I did for Big Sur and I plan on doing it again. Why? Well allow me to explain…
With eight weeks until Vegas, I’m going to up the training again to try and get that sub 1:30 I’ve been gunning for. Apparently they’ve made a new course that is completely on the strip, flat and fast. The fact that it’s at night still makes me incredibly nervous, but that is the game plan for now. I’ll be sure to share the training plan soon.
So there you have it folks, no fall marathon this year. Instead it will be a fun half in October and a race for a new PR in early December. I’m sure there will be a Turkey Trot in there and the addition of some new types of cross training, but I’ve got a new focus and am ready to go for it.
What are your fall goals? Have you ever had to completely renew your focus? How did you do it?
Happy Running and congrats to all of the amazing racers out there this weekend!
Great post! I have just started “running for pleasure” after 12 years of intense training and race schedules and expectations from others. Do what you want and feel good about it.
I”ve totally been there. At one point, I had so much on my plate, including FT job, Master’s program, and some other heavy stuff, that I had to let go of the Hartford Marathon I’d been training for. I probably could’ve pulled it off (I had essentially put in the miles), but my head was so far out of the game, I wasn’t sure I could pull off the mental aspect.
Sometimes taking a break or just backing off is just what we need to regain perspective and clarity; never mind remembering why we love doing it in the first place!
Sounds like an awesome plan Page! Nowhere does it say you have to run a full. Trust me – I don’t run fulls all the time.
Hey Page, I ran the Rock n Roll Vegas race in Dec 2009. It’s All flat. But just an FYI, it was probably 30 degrees the entire race! Everyone was shaking from the cold! So just bring warm clothes and good luck on a PR!
Sounds like a great plan! Fall is a great time to race and you don’t want to miss out, so a half is perfect! It is your life and you need to do what is best – sometimes changing things up is much more fun! I wish I could have spectated Chicago – I am sure I would have gotten the marathon bug if I did!
You know, sometimes the full makes me nervous as I feel like I put all of my training eggs into one basket…rather than gearing up for several peak races. So, in my opinion, it might be kind of fun skipping out on a marathon this fall and focusing on something different. Then, when you come back to the marathon, it’ll be fresh, new, and fun!
Fall goal: NYC 26.2, 3:35 – ahhhh!!!
And, whenever I have to change focus or switch gears, I envision I hit a reset button in my brain that pushes everything else behind me and brings my brain to a clean slate. Super normal, I know, pushing fake head buttons.
I LOVE your blog! Been reading for a while now but never posted. I am always having to switch gears/refocus…I competed for years in cross country and track. I was a middle distance runner (forced to do cross country) but hated running anything over an hour. I was all about the short and fast. As i get older and am busier it’s been hard to maintain that kind of training, I’ve come to love the LSD…in fact, signed up for a marathon in the spring (my first) and am looking forward to discovering a whole new type of training/running.
Good luck on the sub 1:30!!!
My fall goal was to run a 3:35 in Steamtown but that race killed my quads yesterday and it was a struggle to even move the last miles…so it basically didn’t happen. I am singed up for nyc but will mostly do it for fun. I took the spring off last year and just did halves. It helped me get excited about marathoning again and was really helpful so I think your plan is great. I guess now I will be picking a new goal race. I was thinking Napa but after my experience on the downhills I am not sure I want a repeat of that!!
My original A race was the Nike, but after careful consideration that im physically unable to run any hills, with any sort of elevation profile different from a dead person’s EKG, I decided to treat it as my fun race and enjoy it! I’m a slow runner, and I already PRed my HM at the easier half of SFM 2:05,and got a 10k PR of 54:05, that’s all my body can handle. I will relax and enjoy this race. Good luck on your Vegas race! Hope to see you at NIKE!!
Great to hear you’re renewing your focus. I get kinda nervous about doing marathons, as if it doesn’t go well, then there was 4+ months of training gone. All the eggs in one basket, type thing. And, nowhere does it say you MUST do a marathon each season, and nobody is holding you towards doing one except yourself. Gearing towards Vegas will be a fun new plan, and halves provide a little bit more flexibility in training, particularly with a busy work schedule and a few more weeks prep. Good luck! See you this weekend!!!
I understand the dilemma of deciding not to run a full marathon. I still wonder why it causes us so much pain. We should rejoice in the fact that we are even able to run 26.2 miles and not punish ourselves if we decide to sit this one out. I think it takes a lot of smarts to say “no thanks” to a marathon. Job well done!
I think I needed to attend Chicago. I was telling my friend this morning I feel burnt out, I don’t want to run my upcoming marathon, it feels like a chore. I need to find that mojo, the kick in the pants, the light under my fire again. Hopefully I find that soon 😛
New to your blog, it’s great. I think it’s good to know when to say when and I’m sure anyone who’s every trained understands Plan B. I ran a fall marathon this year (chicago last year) and I missed that big city energy. I ran a small marathon and didn’t have a good day. As tempted as I am to try for Philly and have the day I wanted, that was it for me this fall. Other goals: ski season, play some more tennis and maybe an early spring Ragnar.
good for you! like you, and aron, i am also not running a fall marathon. i have a full bib for nike, but I think I realized around SFM that running three marathons in <6 months was stupid (at least for me personally, as I had never run a marathon before or even close) and plus I lost motivation to train for nike. I've been doing a lot of traveling-alone-for-work too these days and it is totally exhausting and I realize that it takes more than will to train and run for a marathon – it takes TIME and rest and energy. Which I don't have this fall. And that;s okay! I am signed up for big sur so if anything the fall is for running for fun and then i'll get back at it.
Well you know I understand exactly how you are feeling 🙂 For what it’s worth my goal marathon just came and went and I was SO GLAD I wasn’t running it. Hopefully you will feel the same way. Plus you have some fun stuff in your future, its definitely a smart choice.
If your heart is not fully into it, then it sounds like a good plan to not do a marathon in the fall. Your plan seems like a good one, I bet you will want do to another one in the Spring (Boston Marathon again?)
I bet you will get that 1:30 half marathon at Vegas, you have been running great it seems like.
My fall goal is to become a Half Fanatic by running 3 in 90 days. Starting with Nike Women’s and culminating with Vegas.
My goals are similar to your (give or take an HOUR haha). Nike is my 2nd half ever and I am just going for the experience and hoping my knee will hold up – but I’d sure like to beat my time from my first half last November. Either way I’ll for sure be going for a PR in Vegas with that flat course. (I’m fairly slow, so I’ll just be trying to get under 2:30 there.)
i looked for you at the expo in chicago but must’ve missed you – boo! i think many of us get caught up in the same marathon cycles season after season, and sometimes change is good. focusing on a faster half sounds like a good way to mix things up, and i’m sure you’re going to kill it!