No biggie. My race entry was deferred from last year. To be honest, I was just glad to make it to "race day" uninjured and healthy. That was my Tecumseh victory !!!
Showing posts with label marathon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label marathon. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 11, 2013
Tecumseh Trail marathon
So, the big race that I was trying to come up with a strategy for got cancelled due to severe weather. The county that it was being held in was under an "emergency travel only" advisory for the day of the race. I spent the Friday before securing rides, car pooling rides, accepting rides, and offering rides. Then at about midday Friday the race director and the Hoosier Hills Hikers Council made the announcement that the race was cancelled.
No biggie. My race entry was deferred from last year. To be honest, I was just glad to make it to "race day" uninjured and healthy. That was my Tecumseh victory !!!
No biggie. My race entry was deferred from last year. To be honest, I was just glad to make it to "race day" uninjured and healthy. That was my Tecumseh victory !!!
Thursday, November 28, 2013
Post injury and Pre race concerns.....or something
So I got over my strange injury. My doctor had me not run for two weeks. It really wasn't a big deal not running. I just turned my focus to strength training three times a week for the two week period. Instead of hitting the trails and roads, I hit the gym. Ab wheel work, weighted planks with a 45 lb. weight on my back, box step ups holding a 50 lb dumbbells in each hand, resistance band movements, wide grip pull ups. rear foot elevated split squats while holding a 45 lb plate, squat rows with a ginormous resistance band, etc.... My plate was full while I was on doc's orders not to run.
I felt like my foot was fine about a week and a half into the "rest" period. I figured it wouldn't hurt anything to just not run the whole two weeks. I was more than content on putting my focus on the anaerobic work outs that I was replacing running with. When the running moratorium ended I drove to McCormick's Creek State Park to give myself a nice soft trail to run on. I went six and three quarter miles and the foot was fine. The next day I did a run around my neighborhood on roads and my foot was fine. I was back !!!
The first week back I did about 34 miles total. My legs felt stronger from all the weight work I did in the layoff. I gained strength and I was running up hills with less fatigue. The first couple of runs showed that my aerobic base suffered a little but my anaerobic running was improved. I started to abandon the heart rate training I had been doing all year on my long trail runs and run by "feel". I kept doing runs by heart rate on my road runs though. I figured three runs a week on roads and then two on trails without the HR alarm would be good. My aerobic base was improving. I was knocking a minute or so off my mile time while my heart rate was staying at or below my set rate (143 bpm). My second week back and I did over 49 miles. Not a twinge from my injured foot.
I've ran this way for the past two weeks. Heart rate alarm on roads, no alarm on the trails. This was great and freeing, but then I stumbled upon a website called "the sock doc" by a doctor that does all kinds of articles and work with aerobic conditioning. http://sock-doc.com/2013/09/aerobic-endurance-superiority/
http://sock-doc.com/sock-doc-training-aerobic-intervals/These articles have caused me to rethink my training strategy and return to the aerobic building training I've been doing up until the brief injury.
Which brings me to my current conundrum. On December 7 I have a trail marathon coming up. It's the Tecumseh Trail marathon. A point to point run on some hilly trails here in South Centrail Indiana. Part of my thinking during the two long runs on the trail without using my HR alarm was that I would run the race by feel. Now I am second guessing this plan because I wonder if it would be wiser to stick to the HR training and continue to develop my aerobic base.
I just want to run the race for fun anyway. The Tecumseh Trail is a trail I've always wanted to run and a point to point supported run on it will be awesome. I just don't know if I want to have my garmin watch buzzing the whole time because I'm pushing my HR too much while climbing a hill. I can always take the hills easy instead of attacking them though. Part of me wants to challenge myself and my discipline by running the event aerobically though. Then the pressure of failing myself through a lack of self-control will be there. Gah !!!
I guess my problem at this point is physically I'm more than capable of doing the distance. My last long run of 18 miles I did on an empty stomach and didn't "bonk" or even come close. Mentally I'm a fucking wreck for this. I've been flip flopping on tactics ever since my foot injury cleared up. I don't have anything to prove except to myself. Man, this is why I hate races !!! Why do I even do them !?!? After this race my schedule is clear and I really don't have any desire to sign up for any because of the brain fuck the preparation this race is doing to me.
So basically I have a little more than a week to decide if I want to use this race as an opportunity to stick to my aerobic building training or run the race by "feel". I have no idea what "strategy" to go with or try to come up with a happy hybrid of the two. Honestly, I just want to get this thing over and done with, take mental notes of the terrain so I have a better idea of the area for runs there in the future, and just get back to training without all this bullshit of an organized event. Oh, and have fun.
I felt like my foot was fine about a week and a half into the "rest" period. I figured it wouldn't hurt anything to just not run the whole two weeks. I was more than content on putting my focus on the anaerobic work outs that I was replacing running with. When the running moratorium ended I drove to McCormick's Creek State Park to give myself a nice soft trail to run on. I went six and three quarter miles and the foot was fine. The next day I did a run around my neighborhood on roads and my foot was fine. I was back !!!
The first week back I did about 34 miles total. My legs felt stronger from all the weight work I did in the layoff. I gained strength and I was running up hills with less fatigue. The first couple of runs showed that my aerobic base suffered a little but my anaerobic running was improved. I started to abandon the heart rate training I had been doing all year on my long trail runs and run by "feel". I kept doing runs by heart rate on my road runs though. I figured three runs a week on roads and then two on trails without the HR alarm would be good. My aerobic base was improving. I was knocking a minute or so off my mile time while my heart rate was staying at or below my set rate (143 bpm). My second week back and I did over 49 miles. Not a twinge from my injured foot.
I've ran this way for the past two weeks. Heart rate alarm on roads, no alarm on the trails. This was great and freeing, but then I stumbled upon a website called "the sock doc" by a doctor that does all kinds of articles and work with aerobic conditioning. http://sock-doc.com/2013/09/aerobic-endurance-superiority/
http://sock-doc.com/sock-doc-training-aerobic-intervals/These articles have caused me to rethink my training strategy and return to the aerobic building training I've been doing up until the brief injury.
Which brings me to my current conundrum. On December 7 I have a trail marathon coming up. It's the Tecumseh Trail marathon. A point to point run on some hilly trails here in South Centrail Indiana. Part of my thinking during the two long runs on the trail without using my HR alarm was that I would run the race by feel. Now I am second guessing this plan because I wonder if it would be wiser to stick to the HR training and continue to develop my aerobic base.
I just want to run the race for fun anyway. The Tecumseh Trail is a trail I've always wanted to run and a point to point supported run on it will be awesome. I just don't know if I want to have my garmin watch buzzing the whole time because I'm pushing my HR too much while climbing a hill. I can always take the hills easy instead of attacking them though. Part of me wants to challenge myself and my discipline by running the event aerobically though. Then the pressure of failing myself through a lack of self-control will be there. Gah !!!
I guess my problem at this point is physically I'm more than capable of doing the distance. My last long run of 18 miles I did on an empty stomach and didn't "bonk" or even come close. Mentally I'm a fucking wreck for this. I've been flip flopping on tactics ever since my foot injury cleared up. I don't have anything to prove except to myself. Man, this is why I hate races !!! Why do I even do them !?!? After this race my schedule is clear and I really don't have any desire to sign up for any because of the brain fuck the preparation this race is doing to me.
So basically I have a little more than a week to decide if I want to use this race as an opportunity to stick to my aerobic building training or run the race by "feel". I have no idea what "strategy" to go with or try to come up with a happy hybrid of the two. Honestly, I just want to get this thing over and done with, take mental notes of the terrain so I have a better idea of the area for runs there in the future, and just get back to training without all this bullshit of an organized event. Oh, and have fun.
Sunday, August 4, 2013
Eagle Creek Trail Marathon as training run....or My failing success
I ran the Eagle Creek Trail Marathon as part of the training I've been doing for a 50k coming up this September. My goals for this race was to finish, finish uninjured, work on nutrition, and gain some long distance race experience.
I thought I would have had more anxiety the night before. I got an email confirmation earlier in the night that my deferred entry for last year's Tecumseh Trail marathon was made active for this year's. (I was in a car accident and beset with other injuries last fall. Luckily the Tecumseh race allows deferments in such events.) The excitement at this news pretty much wiped away the slight nervousness. This allowed me to get a decent night's sleep !!!
I wanted to have a solid race. I also have been struggling to find things to eat while running. Fueling while running has been a struggle for me. I follow the Whole 9 nutrition plan so eating a lot of "normal" runners fuel isn't in the equation. I've never had shot blocks, goo, or gels of any kind in my endurance training. During the marathon I took pitted dates with roasted almonds in them. They were a complete fail. The date portion was too big and I chewed forever. Then I used up way too much water to try and get them down. Luckily, I also had two lara bars with me. I ate a blueberry muffin one and later forced myself to eat a quarter of another. Overall, I don't think I had enough food while running. Still something I need to work on.
The other issue I had was my pace. I started out way too fast, but it felt good. I started the first half ranging between eight and a half to ten minute miles. I train by doing Maffetone heart rate training. This enables me to run ten to twelve minute miles while staying in an aerobic zone. This enables me to use my body fat as fuel (a near unlimited fuel source) as opposed to my glycogen stores (a very limited fuel source). I dropped the heart rate for the race. I did bump up the heart rate alarm on my Garmin watch just to kind of give me an idea of where my effort was. The alarm was mostly ignored during most of the race. Another failure.
The first half was pretty uneventful. At the beginning I passed a lot of people on the uphills and then on the downhills. I was kind of surprised at how the group I was in used a lot of their quads to brake themselves on the downhills. I like to use gravity to speed down the declines in a kind of controlled recklessness. It's safer than it sounds, but it sure beats using up all that energy to gingerly go down hills. I just thought it was odd that I was the only one in this group of runners to go down hills this way.
As I came upon the half way mark of the race (which went through the finish line. The course was a horseshoe shaped lollipop that was a half marathon distance long) I saw that my half time was two hours and six minutes. I wasn't sure if the pace I was doing was going to be sustainable. I hadn't really trained myself to put this much effort into this long of a distance. So far the only issue I had was running in the open field with the sun beating down on me. Temperature wise it was a great day for running, though the humidity was high (almost 100%).
Everything was going smoothly and I was still maintaining my pace. It was around this time that I had the failed date and almond experience. There was a half marathon taking place as well and I was starting to see friends running that race coming in the opposite direction. Each friendly face was a good morale boost. At one aid station, my friend Christy (who I thought was out of town) was there to cheer everybody on. That was a great surprise and an amazing morale booster !!! (I think I might have told her that multiple times later in the day)
Somewhere between miles 16 and 18 my left calf started acting up. I could feel it going right to the edge of cramping up and just staying on the verge. Then the feeling would go away. Then the feeling would creep back up several minutes later. Again, my calf felt like it was flirting on the edge of becoming what I knew would be a painful Charley horse then it would go away.
Around this time I started to drink the electrolyte drinks at the aid stations to see if they would help with the issue with my calf. I had took an endurolyte pill at the beginning of the race and sometime during the race. I figured drinking the liquid form couldn't hurt. I kept hoping for an aid station with a banana but that never happened. I figured the potassium would help.
As I came into another aid station it happened to be the one where Christy was at !!! Yay !!! I downed two cups of blue electrolyte and maybe a cup of water and was on my way. (My Camel bak ran out of water about three miles ago) About a quarter of a mile down the trail I had the thought that I should have left the empty pack with Christy. D'oh !!!
Shortly after leaving the aid station my calf flared up worse. I stopped for a hot second to stretch the calf which helped immensely. The uphills were aggravating it and, as an extra bonus, I was starting to feel nauseous. I never use any electrolyte drink with my training, I blamed this feeling on the blue fluid. So now I was faced with the dilemma of continue to drink something that may or may not be keeping a potential cramp at bay, not have a cramp but puke my brains out, or continue drinking the blue stuff at the aid stations (and risk puking my brains out and having a massive Charley horse at the same time)
My pace was starting to suffer but not too much. I was dropping down but persevering. I only had about five to six miles to go. I knew that if I made it to the causeway bridge part of the course I would be homefree. The bridge gave my calf some relief as it was on a decline heading towards the finish. Then as I hopped the guardrail to get to the trail portion of the course my calf cramped as I landed. I immediately flexed my towards towards my body and the cramp went away just as quickly as it appeared.
It was around here that I got Johnny Cash's song "25 minutes to go" roiling through my head. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qCVxQcsdpWI (here's a link to the song) I couldn't remember most of the words but the countdown chorus part was going through my mind. At one point I came out of the forest onto a service road portion of the route and momentarily bent down to stretch my calf. Looking up, I saw my wife and our friend Heather coming in the opposite direction. I was so glad to see them !!! I told them about my calf as we high fived each other. My wife asked where my heart rate was at (which was at 145 bpm at the time) Looking back the issue with my calf was slowing me down to my aerobic zone, which might not have been a bad thing. I exited the road and was back on the forest trails for another couple of miles to the finish.
I came upon the field with the finish and was glad to be there. I got my finishers medal and knew that I had to keep moving. My calf was tightening up and taking the rest of my legs with them. The growing unpleasantness in my legs was making me wonder if I had injured myself. I walked to the car and sat in the driver's seat and started massaging and stretching my legs. I was totally zoning out and gaining some relief from my messaging. I don't know how long I sat there but after a while all the pain had subsided. I grabbed a coconut water from the cooler and downed it fast. Then walked back to the finish line with the cooler. I saw that my finish was 4:26:13 and was 20th place overall. I only lost 13 minutes compared to the first half which surprised me.
Overall, I completed most of my goals for the race. I managed to finish and finish uninjured which were major pros. (Though I was really scared at the momentary tendinitis that I experienced soon after finishing) I think I had more cons than pros though. I would say the few pros out weighed the cons. I failed at keeping my competitiveness in check. The calf problem, I am guessing, stems from starting the first half of the race at an effort that I wasn't trained at maintaining for a whole marathon distance. I think if I would have been about one or two minutes slower per mile on the first half I might have avoided that problem. I also failed at my nutrition conundrum. (I don't know why I can't get this down !!!) My two liter hydration pack didn't last over twenty miles. I was even drinking at most aid stations. I do have a three liter pack that I might have to switch to for the 50k race. (But the 50k race is in late September where the cooler temperatures will mean less water consumption) I was surprised at my placing and my finishing time though. Those last two things are what makes this training run a failing success. I'll take it !!!
By the Numbers
Distance: 26.2 miles
First half time: 2 hours 6 minutes 26 seconds
Second half time: 2 hours 19 minutes 50 seconds
Average pace: 10 minutes 2 seconds per mile
Time: 4 hours 26 minutes 16 seconds
Fastest mile: 8:48 (mile 7)
Slowest mile:12:01 (mile 25)
Average Heart Rate: 154 bpm
Maximum Heart Rate: 172 bpm
Nutrition
Breakfast: Scrambled eggs with chia meal, cherry tomatoes, black olives, avocados, and pickled okra
Race: One and a quarter blueberry muffing lara bars and one date stuffed with two roasted almonds. two endurlyte capsules
Gear:
Shoes: Altra Lone Peak 1.5
Socks: Injini midweight black socks
Clothes: Nike running shorts, Muzuno compression calf sleeves, buff, and Nike BARA singlet
Other: 2 liter Rogue Camelbak, amphipod belt, Garmin foreunner GPS watch with heart rate monitor
I thought I would have had more anxiety the night before. I got an email confirmation earlier in the night that my deferred entry for last year's Tecumseh Trail marathon was made active for this year's. (I was in a car accident and beset with other injuries last fall. Luckily the Tecumseh race allows deferments in such events.) The excitement at this news pretty much wiped away the slight nervousness. This allowed me to get a decent night's sleep !!!
I wanted to have a solid race. I also have been struggling to find things to eat while running. Fueling while running has been a struggle for me. I follow the Whole 9 nutrition plan so eating a lot of "normal" runners fuel isn't in the equation. I've never had shot blocks, goo, or gels of any kind in my endurance training. During the marathon I took pitted dates with roasted almonds in them. They were a complete fail. The date portion was too big and I chewed forever. Then I used up way too much water to try and get them down. Luckily, I also had two lara bars with me. I ate a blueberry muffin one and later forced myself to eat a quarter of another. Overall, I don't think I had enough food while running. Still something I need to work on.
The other issue I had was my pace. I started out way too fast, but it felt good. I started the first half ranging between eight and a half to ten minute miles. I train by doing Maffetone heart rate training. This enables me to run ten to twelve minute miles while staying in an aerobic zone. This enables me to use my body fat as fuel (a near unlimited fuel source) as opposed to my glycogen stores (a very limited fuel source). I dropped the heart rate for the race. I did bump up the heart rate alarm on my Garmin watch just to kind of give me an idea of where my effort was. The alarm was mostly ignored during most of the race. Another failure.
The first half was pretty uneventful. At the beginning I passed a lot of people on the uphills and then on the downhills. I was kind of surprised at how the group I was in used a lot of their quads to brake themselves on the downhills. I like to use gravity to speed down the declines in a kind of controlled recklessness. It's safer than it sounds, but it sure beats using up all that energy to gingerly go down hills. I just thought it was odd that I was the only one in this group of runners to go down hills this way.
As I came upon the half way mark of the race (which went through the finish line. The course was a horseshoe shaped lollipop that was a half marathon distance long) I saw that my half time was two hours and six minutes. I wasn't sure if the pace I was doing was going to be sustainable. I hadn't really trained myself to put this much effort into this long of a distance. So far the only issue I had was running in the open field with the sun beating down on me. Temperature wise it was a great day for running, though the humidity was high (almost 100%).
Everything was going smoothly and I was still maintaining my pace. It was around this time that I had the failed date and almond experience. There was a half marathon taking place as well and I was starting to see friends running that race coming in the opposite direction. Each friendly face was a good morale boost. At one aid station, my friend Christy (who I thought was out of town) was there to cheer everybody on. That was a great surprise and an amazing morale booster !!! (I think I might have told her that multiple times later in the day)
Somewhere between miles 16 and 18 my left calf started acting up. I could feel it going right to the edge of cramping up and just staying on the verge. Then the feeling would go away. Then the feeling would creep back up several minutes later. Again, my calf felt like it was flirting on the edge of becoming what I knew would be a painful Charley horse then it would go away.
Around this time I started to drink the electrolyte drinks at the aid stations to see if they would help with the issue with my calf. I had took an endurolyte pill at the beginning of the race and sometime during the race. I figured drinking the liquid form couldn't hurt. I kept hoping for an aid station with a banana but that never happened. I figured the potassium would help.
As I came into another aid station it happened to be the one where Christy was at !!! Yay !!! I downed two cups of blue electrolyte and maybe a cup of water and was on my way. (My Camel bak ran out of water about three miles ago) About a quarter of a mile down the trail I had the thought that I should have left the empty pack with Christy. D'oh !!!
Shortly after leaving the aid station my calf flared up worse. I stopped for a hot second to stretch the calf which helped immensely. The uphills were aggravating it and, as an extra bonus, I was starting to feel nauseous. I never use any electrolyte drink with my training, I blamed this feeling on the blue fluid. So now I was faced with the dilemma of continue to drink something that may or may not be keeping a potential cramp at bay, not have a cramp but puke my brains out, or continue drinking the blue stuff at the aid stations (and risk puking my brains out and having a massive Charley horse at the same time)
My pace was starting to suffer but not too much. I was dropping down but persevering. I only had about five to six miles to go. I knew that if I made it to the causeway bridge part of the course I would be homefree. The bridge gave my calf some relief as it was on a decline heading towards the finish. Then as I hopped the guardrail to get to the trail portion of the course my calf cramped as I landed. I immediately flexed my towards towards my body and the cramp went away just as quickly as it appeared.
It was around here that I got Johnny Cash's song "25 minutes to go" roiling through my head. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qCVxQcsdpWI (here's a link to the song) I couldn't remember most of the words but the countdown chorus part was going through my mind. At one point I came out of the forest onto a service road portion of the route and momentarily bent down to stretch my calf. Looking up, I saw my wife and our friend Heather coming in the opposite direction. I was so glad to see them !!! I told them about my calf as we high fived each other. My wife asked where my heart rate was at (which was at 145 bpm at the time) Looking back the issue with my calf was slowing me down to my aerobic zone, which might not have been a bad thing. I exited the road and was back on the forest trails for another couple of miles to the finish.
I came upon the field with the finish and was glad to be there. I got my finishers medal and knew that I had to keep moving. My calf was tightening up and taking the rest of my legs with them. The growing unpleasantness in my legs was making me wonder if I had injured myself. I walked to the car and sat in the driver's seat and started massaging and stretching my legs. I was totally zoning out and gaining some relief from my messaging. I don't know how long I sat there but after a while all the pain had subsided. I grabbed a coconut water from the cooler and downed it fast. Then walked back to the finish line with the cooler. I saw that my finish was 4:26:13 and was 20th place overall. I only lost 13 minutes compared to the first half which surprised me.
Overall, I completed most of my goals for the race. I managed to finish and finish uninjured which were major pros. (Though I was really scared at the momentary tendinitis that I experienced soon after finishing) I think I had more cons than pros though. I would say the few pros out weighed the cons. I failed at keeping my competitiveness in check. The calf problem, I am guessing, stems from starting the first half of the race at an effort that I wasn't trained at maintaining for a whole marathon distance. I think if I would have been about one or two minutes slower per mile on the first half I might have avoided that problem. I also failed at my nutrition conundrum. (I don't know why I can't get this down !!!) My two liter hydration pack didn't last over twenty miles. I was even drinking at most aid stations. I do have a three liter pack that I might have to switch to for the 50k race. (But the 50k race is in late September where the cooler temperatures will mean less water consumption) I was surprised at my placing and my finishing time though. Those last two things are what makes this training run a failing success. I'll take it !!!
By the Numbers
Distance: 26.2 miles
First half time: 2 hours 6 minutes 26 seconds
Second half time: 2 hours 19 minutes 50 seconds
Average pace: 10 minutes 2 seconds per mile
Time: 4 hours 26 minutes 16 seconds
Fastest mile: 8:48 (mile 7)
Slowest mile:12:01 (mile 25)
Average Heart Rate: 154 bpm
Maximum Heart Rate: 172 bpm
Nutrition
Breakfast: Scrambled eggs with chia meal, cherry tomatoes, black olives, avocados, and pickled okra
Race: One and a quarter blueberry muffing lara bars and one date stuffed with two roasted almonds. two endurlyte capsules
Gear:
Shoes: Altra Lone Peak 1.5
Socks: Injini midweight black socks
Clothes: Nike running shorts, Muzuno compression calf sleeves, buff, and Nike BARA singlet
Other: 2 liter Rogue Camelbak, amphipod belt, Garmin foreunner GPS watch with heart rate monitor
Sunday, July 28, 2013
Thoughts on my upcoming first official marathon
I have never run an "official" marathon since starting to run again. I have run over a marathon distance a couple times in my long runs over the past year, but have never ran a race. Next Saturday I'm running my first official trail marathon as a training run for my 50k training.
I've been having a nonchalant attitude about the event. Don't get me wrong. I respect the distance. Through my training I have grown the confidence to know that I can do the distance. I also know that it won't be a cake walk. In the past three or four weeks I have done a twenty mile run each week. The distance never seems to get easier, but I do finish the runs with plenty of gas in the tank.
I guess I'm just having the realization that I'm overlooking the accomplishment of my first marathon because it's a stepping stone along the way to a much bigger goal. Part of me is thinking that the perspective I've adopted might be a little wonked. Of course, signing up for a 50k before I've proven myself at the marathon distance might be a little wonked too.
The Eagle Creek Trail marathon isn't going to be a slouch. It's a 6.5 out and back that you have to do 4 times. People I know that have run it say that it's more of a mentally challenging race as opposed to a physical one. Most of the people reiterate that it's still a marathon and the physically grueling challenge is still there.
I suppose what I would like to accomplish is to finish the race uninjured and have fun doing it. I just hope I don't let myself get sucked into a competitive macho-dickwad mode. I need to be a little conservative and just keep my training pace. This will ensure me success on the big day. The big day that I've been almost dangerously overlooking.
I've been having a nonchalant attitude about the event. Don't get me wrong. I respect the distance. Through my training I have grown the confidence to know that I can do the distance. I also know that it won't be a cake walk. In the past three or four weeks I have done a twenty mile run each week. The distance never seems to get easier, but I do finish the runs with plenty of gas in the tank.
I guess I'm just having the realization that I'm overlooking the accomplishment of my first marathon because it's a stepping stone along the way to a much bigger goal. Part of me is thinking that the perspective I've adopted might be a little wonked. Of course, signing up for a 50k before I've proven myself at the marathon distance might be a little wonked too.
The Eagle Creek Trail marathon isn't going to be a slouch. It's a 6.5 out and back that you have to do 4 times. People I know that have run it say that it's more of a mentally challenging race as opposed to a physical one. Most of the people reiterate that it's still a marathon and the physically grueling challenge is still there.
I suppose what I would like to accomplish is to finish the race uninjured and have fun doing it. I just hope I don't let myself get sucked into a competitive macho-dickwad mode. I need to be a little conservative and just keep my training pace. This will ensure me success on the big day. The big day that I've been almost dangerously overlooking.
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