Damage Assessment

Sorry Ge, writing daily blog entries became quite a bit tougher the last few weeks. You see, I'm a morning over coffee blogger. Admittedly, most of us read blogs at work, but writing them, well, that's another story. I've got too many distractions and just don't get the "good" thought flowing once I'm in the cube. The premature leap to Daylight Savings time, or Atlantic Maritime time, or whatever the hell time we're on now, hasn't made my blogging life any easier. Delaying the morning sun's precious rays awakening of my weary bones steals away the time to blog. Now you know how we all felt during your hiatus last week. Looks like the Three Boyz, or at least two out of three are on Spring Break from "the factory" and they haven't been doing much to wet our appetites. (or anything else, Meg...)

Beyond all this, my best ideas for a post-half marathon blog entry were stolen by KL in her most recent post. That stuff about previously never using the word "marathon" in a sentence without also using "never?" All mine. At least she admitted the whole idea was mine. Truth be told, several weeks into the half-mary training, with the darkness of winter still upon us, I started giving some thought to putting the cycling season on ice and maybe, just maybe continuing on with running after New Bedford. The theory was that with the running base already laid, perhaps any marathon aspirations were best not put off. Marathons are generally scheduled in the spring and fall. In order to compete in a fall marathon, I'd need to cut cycling short and start running again in late summer, or even sooner, perhaps not eliminating running at any point of the year. On the other side, if I wanted to do one in the spring, I'd need to train like we did this winter, only more. This year the weather was kind, and spring marathoners have had almost no crimps in their preparation. I only set foot on a treadmill once all winter. Next year I may not be so lucky.

What if I came out of New Bedford strong and injury free? Maybe I could press on for another few months, taking on the Burlington Vermont marathon in late May? That was the consideration. I'd get this little adventure under my belt, and still have time to salvage something of a cycling season. Well, I didn't have to wait until after the race to shelve this plan. Toward the end of my build, the soreness in my legs started taking longer and longer to go away, and with the improving weather my enthusiasm for cycling returned as well. This was the longest and most consistent attempt at being a runner I've ever undertaken. In the past it was always just run forty minutes three times a week for a month to get ready for a 10K, then slack off.

I've already had parts of the meniscus in both knees removed, victims of hard climbing on the bike and the stupidity of racing cyclocross, treading over frozen tundra in instruments of torture disguised as mountain bike shoes. Building up the run miles carries some risk. I'm the first one to give budding endurance athletes advice about taking it slow. Too many newcomers think anything can be accomplished in one year, as if it were some magical time period. Doing a marathon or becoming a bike racer is more like getting a bachelor's degree. You wouldn't try to do that in just a year, would you? So I came to my senses and decided to step back and evaluate how I came through this little running phase. Will it come back to haunt me during cycling season? Will I emerge better and stronger? Will it have finally made me "an athlete" instead of just a praying mantis on a bike? To be continued... Thanks for reading.