Running Man Cometh

This past week, I realized that it's been a while since I experienced true mental and physical pain, so I decided, what better way to remedy that by running a marathon! On Wednesday, the Marine Corps Marathon opened up its registration to the public, and guess who made sure they were registered bright and early? Yep, I'm a schmuck.

My first and only marathon I participated in to date has been the New York City Marathon back in 2002. That was a truly incredible race, one that I will never forget. From the sounds of supporting New Yorkers, to the sight of thousands of athlete's competing for one single goal, it felt like you owned the streets of New York City, just for a brief while, although at times it seemed like an eternity. Of course, there's those kill me moments like the dry heaves at mile 20, the leg and stomach cramps at mile 21 thru 24, the delirium spell that almost led to a near collapse from sheer exhaustion at mile 25, and that one block in Queens that reeked of hot garbage, but all in all, the glory of finishing surpassed all that.

I also recall the preparation I endured leading up to that day. If there was ever a reason for me not to run another marathon again, training would be it. In short, long runs bite the big one. Not that I had an extensive game plan- I found out I was accepted into the race in September after originally being denied via lottery. Apparently, many international racers that year decided not to run, most likely due to post-9/11 fears at that time. So when I received an email asking me if I still wanted in, considering I've been unsuccessful in getting a bid via the lottery system for the past few years, I figured, what the hell. After forcing myself to follow a semi-accelerated training schedule for those next few weeks, I surprised myself in completing the race in 3 hours, 30 minutes (and 9 seconds net for you bean counters), thirty minutes under my goal time of 4 hours. That was three and a half long ass years ago.

This year I'm sure things will be different. Whether I can muster up enough game to break my personal record, or simply survive and finish the race, that'll be known 10/29. But I've got five months from now, and a crap load of time to get my ass into gear. Fade in...procrastination.