Marathon Madness

I am one week away from traveling to Scotland to run the Edinburgh marathon. You might wonder why I am running a marathon, given my aversion to running. You might also wonder why I might go to the time and expense of traveling to Edinburgh to suffer, given that there is a marathon in Calgary on the same day. 

Well, it began after La Ruta last year. I was left wondering what my next challenge would be, and Emma Hooper quickly suggested the Edinburgh Marathon. As it was the first suggestion, I felt that I should give it consideration, despite my aversion to running. Plus, I know someone (Erin Hooper) in Edinburgh, which meant that I would have a local connection. In my experience, a local connection is experience enhancing. 

The thought of running that far made me nervous and uncomfortable, which qualified it as a worthy goal and kind of intrigued me. It was a daunting goal in December, when I signed up for the race. It was even more daunting in March when I had only run a total of 20 kms in 2009. Now, just a week away, I'm terrified about the whole thing. 

Work, and blisters, and other excuses have presented a continuous stream of obstacles over the past couple of months. I've worked up to a few 26 mile weeks, but that's well short of any marathon training programs that I can find on the internet. In addition, my longest run has been 13 miles, which is also inadequate by any traditional measure. My focus has been on i) running when I can, and ii) avoiding injury. My concern is that this approach has left me severely underprepared and that I will pay for it next week. 

The fact is that running is really hard. I don't know what the last 13 miles will be like. I know that I find the first 13 hard. I know that I've seen other people run marathons, and many of them did not look very happy. I see a lot of photos of runners on my physiotherapists wall. 

I just hope that I can get through it without an injury that interferes with my bike season. At least I have my excitement about seeing my friends in Edinburgh to help settle my building anxiety. I guess that answers the question of why I wouldn't just do the Calgary race - I'd have nothing to push me through.