anticipation, transformation
i sit at the steps of the final hard weekend of marathon training: 11 miles tomorrow morning, 23 miles the day after. i will admit that i am champing at the bit to get through these runs, to get to the marathon. for the past 6+ months, i have been ignoring the endgame, focusing on the dailies, but now being so close, so injury-free, so strong from past training, i can smell fresh blood. and it can drive one mad. this is where i play my card of experience, letting my maturity in the sport take the reins from my emotions when it comes to hitting the road and keeping me on an even keel. i've always said that the only thing that someone can do tougher than a marathon is to train for a marathon, and oh! to be at sunday night already with that thought still being predominant.
there's something else that comes with all this training: transformation. a transformation that makes you wonder "how was i the person that i was before? how could i ever go back to being that person?" of course, for the green, this transformation is mostly physical in nature--one can now leap buildings previously believed to be too tall. transformations occur at all levels of running experience. where does the strength come from to train the way that i have for the past 12 months, given what i went through one year ago? the darwinists call it survival. the behavioralists call it a constructive defense mechanism in the form of goal-oriented behavior. the spiritualists call it heart.
the runner calls it being on the edge of something huge. and we'll just have to wait 3 more weeks to find out just how huge that something is. but first, 34 miles in 24 hours.
there's something else that comes with all this training: transformation. a transformation that makes you wonder "how was i the person that i was before? how could i ever go back to being that person?" of course, for the green, this transformation is mostly physical in nature--one can now leap buildings previously believed to be too tall. transformations occur at all levels of running experience. where does the strength come from to train the way that i have for the past 12 months, given what i went through one year ago? the darwinists call it survival. the behavioralists call it a constructive defense mechanism in the form of goal-oriented behavior. the spiritualists call it heart.
the runner calls it being on the edge of something huge. and we'll just have to wait 3 more weeks to find out just how huge that something is. but first, 34 miles in 24 hours.
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