New York
I was on a plane today, and I wrote some stuff to post. It seems a bit out of place now, but I thought I would share it anyhow. The story has changed significantly since I wrote this, and I'll have to put those new thoughts to pixels later.
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Well, it has been an interesting couple of days. Getting right to the point, I'm not running the NYC marathon on Sunday as planned.
What happened? Emotions, stress, uncertainty, compassion, fear... all got the best of me. As late as Wednesday morning I was still saying that if I could get there and the race was still on, I'd be running it. But as the day went on, I grew less and less excited about the race.I grew more apprehensive about the trip. By Thursday morning all desire to go run this race had left, and the only thing keeping me hanging on was the plans we had made for this trip.
I've been looking forward to this race for over a year. Four, if you count my multiple tries to get in. I've been training hard for six months. Lots of early mornings and sweaty runs went into this. Why stop now? Because my heart is simply not in it at all. It is amazing how quickly that can change. I thought at first that I was simply going through some crazy pre-race emotions, and that may be a part of it, but nothing felt right any longer. This was an agonizing decision to make. I'm not boycotting the organizer's decision to go on with the race, as so many people are doing. I don't fault all the runners who are going to be out there either... I can see this from their shoes, for certain. And I wish all my friends who are going to be there safe travels and a great race.
New York will wait for me for yet another year.
The story doesn't end there, however. A small amount of luck finds me on my way to run a (much) different race on Sunday. I'll be competing in the Manchester City Marathon, up in New Hampshire. It's about as different from NYC as you can get on short notice. A few hundred people. Hilly. Quiet neighborhoods. Few spectators. Asphalt, dirt, roads, bike paths, wooden foot bridges, sidewalk, wide streets and narrow alleyways are all a part of this race. It's going to be interesting, to say the least.
---
Well, it has been an interesting couple of days. Getting right to the point, I'm not running the NYC marathon on Sunday as planned.
What happened? Emotions, stress, uncertainty, compassion, fear... all got the best of me. As late as Wednesday morning I was still saying that if I could get there and the race was still on, I'd be running it. But as the day went on, I grew less and less excited about the race.I grew more apprehensive about the trip. By Thursday morning all desire to go run this race had left, and the only thing keeping me hanging on was the plans we had made for this trip.
I've been looking forward to this race for over a year. Four, if you count my multiple tries to get in. I've been training hard for six months. Lots of early mornings and sweaty runs went into this. Why stop now? Because my heart is simply not in it at all. It is amazing how quickly that can change. I thought at first that I was simply going through some crazy pre-race emotions, and that may be a part of it, but nothing felt right any longer. This was an agonizing decision to make. I'm not boycotting the organizer's decision to go on with the race, as so many people are doing. I don't fault all the runners who are going to be out there either... I can see this from their shoes, for certain. And I wish all my friends who are going to be there safe travels and a great race.
New York will wait for me for yet another year.
The story doesn't end there, however. A small amount of luck finds me on my way to run a (much) different race on Sunday. I'll be competing in the Manchester City Marathon, up in New Hampshire. It's about as different from NYC as you can get on short notice. A few hundred people. Hilly. Quiet neighborhoods. Few spectators. Asphalt, dirt, roads, bike paths, wooden foot bridges, sidewalk, wide streets and narrow alleyways are all a part of this race. It's going to be interesting, to say the least.