Marathon Meh

Here's what I've learned this year -- I like off-road racing more than road racing. Give me an adventure race or a trail run any day. My marathon training has been mentally painful and physically slow. Why do laps around the block when you can bound up and down trails and rocks, you know?

Regardless, my final race of 2011 will be the Philadelphia Marathon. I hope to cross the finish line before Christmas.

Training has been a bit meh. I've been putting in the miles, mostly (if adventure racing counts as a long run) but I haven't been doing the speed work. I know I have the endurance to finish, barring something unforeseen, but I don't have the speed to do anything special on race day. And, honestly, nor do I have the desire.

My lack of motivation this training cycle has impressed me. Why go run for three hours on the road when you can bound around on a trail? When you can get your feet wet? When you can get your legs muddy? A 50k sounds less daunting to me right now than a road marathon (and, speaking of, will someone please do this with me?).

As I am running for the Philadelphia Ronald McDonald House, though, it is only fair that I at least put forth some effort in training, even if I am not feeling particularly passionate about the race. There's neither chance nor desire to qualify for either Boston or a PR and I am struggling to latch onto a time goal that will keep me motivated on race day.

On the upside, yesterday's 20-miler with Abby (read her account of it here ... Personally, I plan to read it before every 20-mile run for inspiration) didn't suck at all. Not entirely sure why, but it didn't. Some guesses as to why it wasn't terrible:

1.  It was early in the morning, at least for me. The shock of such an early wake-up call got me going a bit.
2. There were a ton of other runners out. I commented to Abby no less than 10 times that I couldn't believe how many other runners there were. She was all "Welcome to the world of adults who get out of bed before noon and get their long runs in before dinner time" and I was all "Geeze, it's a whole different world out here before 3 p.m."
3. The weather ruled. Thank you, Nature, for that gift.
4. Nothing really hurt. A few pings in my right ankle toward the end but I woke up today feeling fresh.
5. Company! Usually for long runs, Bill will go for a bike ride and we will meet for a few minutes at pre-determined points so he can give me fuel and water. This time, though, the conversation with Abby about everything from adventure racing (shocking) to future travel plans made the miles tick by quickly. I am still sort of convinced that her Garmin was off and we really only did about 5 miles, but if she insists we hit 20, then I guess we hit 20.

I did about 6 miles of recovery today along a flat path and felt fine. Legs were a bit heavy but nothing hurt or was sore and I had to make a concerted effort not to go hard so that was a bit uplifting.

The race is only 4 weeks away. Hopefully next weekend will bring at least 25 miles between an organized group 20-miler on Saturday, possibly an orienteering meet on Saturday night and another group run on Sunday. Toss in another 20 miles or so the following weekend and then it is taper time already.

Maybe this marathon thing isn't so terrible after all.

A Blog About A Guy and His Feet

I came across this blog today. ALERT: It is gross. But impressive.

I am all for adventures, I am all for playing outside. This guy's story, however, makes me throw up in my mouth a little bit.

Sir, I wish you a speedy recovery. And I am glad to know that there's someone out there with feet more disgusting than mine.

Who Hates Adventure Racing?

I don't hate it. Not at all.

And I think you won't hate it either.

When else in life can otherwise (mostly) responsible adults run and ride around in the woods, paddle in a boat and challenge their brains in the process by navigating from point to point old-school style? When was the last time you had to bust out a map and compass at a road race?

There's food at the finish line, the people are pretty cool, and, mile for mile and hour for hour, registering for an adventure race is way less expensive than just about every road race out there.

Especially when the adventure race is free. Adventure racing Abby is giving away a free race entry for either of two G.O.A.L.S. 2011 sprint adventure races. Grab a friend or two, your bikes and your trail running shoes and get ready for four to six (depending on how fast you feel like going) hours of playing in the dirt!

How cool are we? Gaiters, orange race jerseys, bike gloves
and climbing harnesses.

Books! And a Tiny Bit of Running! And a Link to a Sweet Giveaway!

I like the mail woman this week!

First, she brought me A Year of Adventure: A Guide to the World's Most Exciting Experiences. Thanks to a giveaway from Abby** I now have a year-long guide to all the fun stuff I'd rather be doing this year.

The book is organized month by month, each month featuring outside funness in season throughout the world. At first I thought the book would make me sad as I clearly won't be able to do the more than 250 trips, adventures and outdoor endeavors in my lifetime, let alone in 2011.

Until I read adentures for the first week of January -- suggestion number two was bobsledding in Lake Placid. We've actually done this! Ok, just Bill, but I was there so it counts! He rolled in 2010 with a ride around the old Olympic bobsled and louge track. I was going to try skeleton (somehow they let you do this on your own with basically no training) but got a tiny bit nervous and didn't do it.

And then, yesterday, The Complete Idiot's Guide to Geography. After realizing I know even less about geography than I thought I hit up Amazon and decided to brush up on my world geography skills. So far I haven't even opened it but my one and only New Year's resolution is to learn all of the countries on Africa and Europe and their major landforms. What do I plan to do with this knowledge? Nothing, other than to hopefully feel a bit less dumb.

Unrelated: I finally managed to get in my first few runs of 2011. First up was 4 miles on the beautiful treadmill at the gym. I decided to go hard and felt like I was running at the speed of sound. Unfortunately my average pace was terrible for me. My marathon endurance is gone but unfortunately I have retained my sluggish marathon pace. Awesome.

Today I did 5 or so miles on the trails. I felt okay and was having fun until I got home. The clock said it was 11:54. On Wednesdays I work from noon until 8. Six minutes to stop being a sweaty mess, shower, get out the door and to work? Didn't happen. Not even close.

**Also unrelated, but way more fun than me rambling about running: Abby at Have Dental Floss, Will Travel is having a sweet giveaway, guaranteed to get you outside even on the snowiest and iciest of days. If you hate being outside in the cold, you can use the spikes to defend your home in case an intruder gets in.