It’s evaluating and humbling at the same time

Not too much to report this evening as my run was uneventful, an easy 46’+ around the neighborhood. No, much of today’s running pleasure was found in a) the pint of Guinness I consumed post-run while b) reading a variety of race reports from friends who competed in an assortment of marathons this weekend.

Don’t think I’ve gone soft on you, but as I read the wide-ranging tales from Thomas, Chris, Mike, Dallen and Brad it dawned on me that even though the times were vastly different (and repeatedly not what they wanted), the stories were the same, one of passion, dreams and commitment in the face of uncertainty.

The joys of racing a marathon and achieving your goal is wonderful, a wave that I was riding until London this April. However, the slow, painful, often car-wreck-like carnage that comes when things don’t go your way, that’s where it’s evaluating and humbling at the same time.

I’ll leave you with this, “The marathon is like a bullfight. There are two ways to kill a bull, for instance. There is the easy way, for one. But all the great matadors end up either dead or mauled because for them killing the bull is not nearly as important as how they kill the bull. They always approach the bull at the greatest risk to themselves, and I admire that. In the marathon, likewise, there are two ways to win. There's the easy way if all you care about is winning. You hang back and risk nothing. Then kick and try to nip the leaders at the end. Or, you can push, challenge the others, make it an exciting race, risking everything. Maybe you lose, but as for me, I'd rather run a gutsy race, pushing all the way and lose, then run a conservative, easy race only for a win." - Alberto Salazar, 1981

Training: 46:03 easy, toight legs

Photo: provided by Jim Finlayson, I believe it was taken with about 500m to go, although he'd have to verify that