The Broad Running Broad

Last night I had a come to Jesus talk with myself. I tend to have a lot of those over various topics. Last night it was the full marathon I’m supposed to be running on Saturday.

I decided to transfer to the half, which is the decision that makes the most sense but at the same time is also a bit disappointing.

It’s been five years since I last ran a spring full and I was looking forward to training through the winter when I first registered on January 1st. I had this all planned out of long runs and early productive mornings that would boost my energy levels and get me through my day high on endorphins.

Training cycles are exhausting and at the same time help me stay centered and connected with myself, which I had lost and had to rediscover over the past few years.

However, there were a few things in my personal life I didn’t take into account when I first registered for the full.

The big one was my mental focus. Ever since moving to my new place in November and getting back into the office, work became #1. It had to, since the first few months of training were rocky and I had some catching up to do. Stressful is a very mild way to describe the past five months, and a Stressed Allison is Lethargic Allison, so running and cross-training hasn’t been as consistent as I would have liked it to be. Plop a blonde wig on Snorlax and that’s basically how I’ve been doing lately.

I’m thrilled (and relieved) to share that as of Monday, keeping my head down paid off and I’m now out of training. Back when I was working with my manager on 2024 goals, we agreed passing training in April was the big one. I was a bit concerned about the timeline for my release, since three days this month are PTO and I was about 95% confident of where I was at. Thankfully, I didn’t need to worry.

But I did. And I also stress ate a lot of candy.

The second thing I failed to take into account was the fact it’s winter in Ohio.

I have that firm rule about not running outside in snow or ice, since the only times I would be able to run outside are in the dark and I’m not willing to risk slipping on black ice and injuring myself. I also discovered that I can’t tolerate cold like I used to, so mornings that were supposed to be longer runs either neither happened or happened on the treadmill for a shorter distance than I had planned.

The distances would be fine for a half or shorter distance race, but for a full? My longest long run was 16 miles on a relatively flat trail, while Carmel has substantial hills. Granted, while it has been a while, I’ve ran the Carmel half twice before and have a rough idea of what to expect. I’d be running into the back course of the full marathon completely blind. I would have to be a special form of stupid if I drove all the way out there and tried to run 26.2 miles.

So last night, after having the talk with myself and then calling Mom to get her take, I decided to drop down to the half and give myself a fun weekend instead.

In the words of Detective Harry Callahan, sometimes a (wo)man’s gotta know his(her) limits. As much as I would love to be a god among men who can run 26.2 miles over the hills and PR, it’s not quite time for that. So instead on Saturday I’ll run the race I can, then enjoy lunch out with my best friend from college. On Sunday morning I’ll drive home and make a pit stop at Grandma’s to visit her and Mom.

Never any shame in implementing Plan B.

I hope you all are enjoying yourselves and I thank you for following me on my wobbly adventures in running. Until next time knights ‘n dames.

Allison