How crazy do you have to be to run 17 miles in the middle of winter? If you're not crazy enough to do it in 7 degree weather on snow packed/icy streets which are so slick and full of ruts that you have to literally watch every step - and to do it on a 1 mile street (i.e. back and forth for 17 laps), you're not crazy enough. Throw in an ankle brace for the sprain you've been nursing for the past too months and you've got to be downright looney. And I am proud to say I am just that crazy. Got the screaming hamstrings and blisters to prove it.
When you're training for a marathon, it's the TRAINING part that totally sucks. Some days I think "Once I hit the 26 mile mark, I'm never tapering again." Some days I think once I get there, I'll just stay there. A marathon each month with 3 ten-mile runs in between. That is not crazy, my friends, that is just efficient. As long as you treat each marathon as a training run, no problem. At least that's what I tell myself on days like Saturday, 9 miles into my 17 mile Snowbowl Run with 20 of my craziest running friends.
But here is how it inevitably plays out.... I plan a slow marathon as a training run, I realize I'm making good time and see if I can PR. Whether I actually do PR or not is irrelevant because by the time I'm done, I'm good and sore. Meaning the SECOND marathon, the one I was actually HOPING to run well, I have to take it easy and make it a slow recovery run. And then I'm even more sore and need to take some serious time off before starting all over.
It's a vicious cycle, but I love it. I do. I love it. Even in the tundra.
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