When you look at most running training programs, from distances of 5K to, well, to whatever, the paces are enough to throw you off. You rarely (except for speed work and a few runs near the very end) train at your goal “race pace.” I had, actually, present tense, have, a lot of trouble with this. How on earth can you wake up on race morning and run farther AND faster than you’ve ever run before? I know. You’re more physically stressed during training, and, after your taper, your muscles are ready to roll. But mentally, I find it tough to swallow. I would much prefer knowing that I can do because I’ve actually done it before. And, since this is only my second marathon and because I was thrown off during training during the last one, I do not actually know if I can run my goal pace. And this is not the kind of mystery I enjoy. I would very much like to read the last page now, so that I know how it all turns out.

My Dad always says, “Trust the plan.” This applies for everything: from work to working out. But the idea, really, is that you obviously can’t know everything, so, you do some research, you think about it, and you throw some trust by way of the professionals. Then, you take a good thoughtful stab at it the first time. And you adapt the second time. And the third. And the fourth. BUT, you definitely don’t adapt halfway through (unless perhaps you sense something drastic going wrong, like injuries, sicknesses, etc.). After all, marathon training isn’t a science, it’s an art. Even if you follow a program to the letter, that doesn’t mean, come race day, the race will run itself for you. It could be a good day or a bad day. It could be too hot or too cold. It’s kind of like poker: you can have a lot of skill, and that will get you to the table, but when it comes right down to it, you better hope you’re lucky, too.

One of my Mom’s friends, an accomplished Marathoner, told me after the Ottawa Marathon 2009, that you need at least three marathons to be call yourself a marathoner: 1) To prove you can do it, 2) To prove it wasn’t a fluke, and 3) To train for and run a good race. I like to think that I’ve internalized this attitude, that each training run is a small step to a marathon and that each marathon is just a piece of a running career. The fails are a little less painful but the wins are still as sweet. I like the idea of a bigger picture. Court is running his first Half Marathon in May and I’ve really been enjoying watching him be so excited. It’s a huge commitment that doesn’t really pay off right away, and sometimes, you forget why you’re doing it. But, I was showing him some of my pace times on different races, and looking at how they’ve improved over the years. And, also, on a particularly tough Race Day, how sometimes they didn’t improve at all. Running is a very fickle master, that is for sure. But, I wouldn’t change it for anything. I would, however, change myself to get rid of the forgetfulness that led to running my long run this past weekend with only one layer of tights. That was a very very cold mistake!