Sunday, May 27, 2012

Disappointment

First, thank you all for the wonderful comments!  They made me feel really good about the decisions I made on race day.

That said....

It has officially been one week since the Green Bay Marathon.  In the first few days following the race, I was happy with the accomplishment I made.  The weather was out of my control and I made the best with what was given to me.  Finishing just over four hours, a time like that was my PR just a few years ago,  I should feel like a complete rock star for that being the time I can get on a really bad day.  Yet I don’t.

I feel more like I wasted five months of preparation.  I was never given the chance to see what I can really do.  And that upsets me more than I realized.  So Tuesday afternoon, I began shopping for a re-do marathon.  After several dead-end options, I’ve come to realize that I might just have to let this one go, because the only real option at this point is going home and running the local marathon’s course solo and seeing how I do.  Without the race-day excitement and music, I am pretty sure it won’t be 100%.  I’ll just have to take comfort in knowing that I won’t lose speed during this off-period because I AM stronger and will likely have faster trail times.  As long as I keep gaining fitness, the speed will come back when I begin focused road training again.  It is mostly a bummer because I didn’t have anything go wrong, for the first time ever in training for a marathon. 

So what I am going to do is to keep doing some faster things during training for the SOB 50K (July).  Then when it comes to training for a fall marathon, I’m going to continue on training for a faster yet race, as if I had made a new PR in Green Bay.  This faster goal time will likely be 3:30. 

I guess I’m just bummed.

1 comment:

bobbi said...

You have every right to be disappointed. I felt just like this last fall. I considered a do-over and then let it go.

I know you KNOW it, but you did NOT waste that training. You ran a strong race in absolutely brutal condiditons. Here's hoping that you don't have to face that again any time soon.

They actually cancelled today's Madison marathon. This heat is insane. :(