This week, with the Charleston Marathon over and the glow of a sub-4 finish starting to fade, it was time to focus on my next goal: running my first 50-miler. Last summer, I had so much fun running the Skyline Challenge 50K that I wanted to continue challenging myself and run further than I ever had before. Targeting a 50 miler with its emphasis on steady forward motion and endurance would be a change of pace (literally and figuratively) from the faster running I was doing to prepare for Charleston and running a PR.
There was one flaw in my plan, which I hadn’t everconsidered. I didn’t get in to the race I wanted to run. Entry in to the race is a lottery based on a random number assignment and the performance of the stock market on the day the numbers are picked. As it turns out, I didn’t make it in and am rather far down the wait list. My chances don’t look good.
Realizing I wasn’t going to be running that particular 50 miler was disappointing but also, surprisingly, a bit of a relief. Now, I can take a bit longer to recover and maybe focus on some other events this spring. I’ve got a few shorter races this spring and all of them I will be running with either a friend or a family member. My early morning training runs are my time and I enjoy those runs but I do, sometimes, feel lonely at races being in huge crowd of runners and not knowing any of them. I love sharing races with people I know.
Also, I’ve signed up for my first triathlon, something that I never saw myself doing. I’ll be doing the swim portion of the Luray Triathlon, International distance on a Saturday in August and the whole multisport, swim, bike, run, Sprint distance race on Sunday. And I’m excited about it!
Finally, what I’ve only recently realized, after being disappointed for two days that I couldn’t run a 50 miler, was that I can run a 50 miler, just not that particular one. There are other options out there, who knew? I’ve got my eye on one that will be the first weekend in June and depending on how training goes this month, I will decided whether to sign up or not by March.
I love seeing my race schedule laid out before me and 2011 is shaping up to be a year of new experiences, new challenges and lots of quality time with friends and family out on the race course. Yes!
Daily Dozen:
Unscheduled Rest Day – I wanted to go swimming this morning but I stayed up late finishing a book and decided to continue sleeping when my alarm went off
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