Running With Jack

I said an extra prayer in church yesterday for those who lost loved ones on September 11th. German television didn’t have too much to say about it, only that the U.S.A. was remembering this tragic day. It was one of those days that makes it hard for me to be an American living in a foreign country. Probably why I was pigging out all weekend, especially sweets.

In any case at least I ran yesterday, a little further than I probably should have, but at least I didn’t try to set an overland speed record. To save you having to look at yesterday’s post I ran 14K/8.7M at a 5:34/K (8:57/M) pace. I had intended on running maybe 10K, oh well, I think I will still be ready for ‘M’ day.

I noticed that my legs were quite tired yesterday, I think this was a result of running, then going swimming Friday night and standing on the uneven surface of the garden for hours on end on Saturday. I am definitely not used to swimming, and working on the uneven surface of the garden beds always leaves me aching for some reason.

So I have decided that the garden will remain neglected until after the marathon and that I will reframe from any cross training that I haven’t done regularly until next week as well.

Well, race day is approaching much faster than I would like. I can feel the butterflies churning up the stomach. I have a couple more shorter runs to complete this week, mostly so I don’t forget how to run in between now and race day. As the nerves start going wacho anything is possible ;-)

Yesterday I sat and watched part of the Cologne marathon that took places yesterday morning in Germany. This is one of the few times that I have caught myself thinking about my own marathon strategy. In a brief moment as I stared at the runners crossing the finish line in Cologne I had a near vision. I realized that I will head out on the 18th on a quest to conquer the mountain in front of me, to run until it hurts, to run to exhaustion, and with a final burst of adrenalin thrust myself over the finish line. I am a runner, there is no other choice!