Finally, I feel excited about this marathon!

Ever since I began training for this year’s NYC Marathon I have had problems feeling excited about it. That’s not exactly how you should feel as you are devoting hours and hours to training. You can’t do 26.2 miles and be half-hearted about it.

For most of this summer I have been more excited about running a half marathon at the end of January instead of this marathon. Again, that’s not a good thing. While, I’ve some good long runs the thought about deferring this year’s marathon was front and center. This is not something to think about while slogging through a long run during the month of August.

Shortly after my duh moment. Lady Liberty on a cloudy and hazy morning.

Then it all clicked. I wish I could say there was one ah-ha moment, but it came in spurts. Sometimes you need it to happen spurts as that is when you tend to pay more attention. Saturday’s 10 mile long run started out as most of my long runs have with me thinking about deferring again. It wasn’t until somewhere between miles four and five that the first light bulb went off. I stopped at a water fountain and looked up to see a couple run by at a very nice easy pace. I thought they looked so comfortable and that it looked like they were running the pace I was supposed to be running. I took off behind them and matched their pace and my duh moment hit me. Yes, they were running the pace I was supposed to be running, the pace I had not been running for the first half of my run. I had been running faster than I should have and no wonder I was having a hard time finishing these runs. I made sure to keep this pace for the rest of my run and finished so well and felt good at the end.

When I got home and plugged in my Garmin I was still doubting my success and feeling that I have been running slower than last year. This was when I realized there is a reason to keep running logs. I looked back at last year’s runs and noticed I have been doing better. Holy crap, there has been improvement!

This is what I needed to figure out. There will be no deferrals this year as I now have firm plans for my future training runs and the marathon. I’m sticking with my plan as it is working. I’ve figured out the nutrition during the run that works for me and I can now see myself enjoying this marathon more than last year.

Bring it on NYC!