Last Morning of Indecision

When I got up this morning, I grabbed a Clif bar, some water and a cup of coffee. I checked the weather: 31 degrees. Feels like 21. Wintery mix (for those of you in warmer climates, that means a mixture of snow and rain, sometimes freezing rain).

So, am I going to run?

Indoors or outdoors?

Actually neither of those questions crossed my mind. But I did reflect on my last run under similar conditions and concluded I needed to be dressed somewhat warmer. I ended that run, with 5.5 miles in to a head wind, covered with freezing rain, and was probably lucky not to end up with frost bite.

But today is the last day of my last recovery week after my "last" race (it was my first race in over three years). After today, I need to decide if I'm ready to commit to training for a marathon. Never run a marathon. Although I have been a runner off and on most of my life (since about age 14), I've never trained for, or entertained training for a marathon. Why now?

Four weeks ago, I completed my first half marathon - the Denver half marathon in 1:44:25. If you know anything about running, you can tell, I'm no elite runner. But at age 51 and 5280 feet, I was pretty happy with my time for my first half marathon. Going into the race I had multiple tiered goals:

1. Under 2 hours. I was pretty confident I could do this as I had run 13 miles in a training run in just over 2 hours.
2. Under 1 hour 50 minutes. This was a little more challenging, but based on my predicted marathon time from McMillan's Running Calculator, I should be able to complete the half at an 8:14 per mile pace. A great pace calculator by the way.
3. Under 1 hour 45 minutes. This would put me right about 8 minutes a mile, and based on some recent tempo runs, I felt very comfortable at an 8 minute pace.

After the race, while pondering my time, I did an adjustment based on altitude (there is definitely less air at 5280 feet), using the running calculator found at www.runworks.com. That gave me a sea level time of 1:39:39 for the half marathon (that's a 7:36 pace). Then taking that pace and using McMillan's Running Calculator again, I projected my marathon time at sea level. Hmmm. 3:30:10. Almost 5 minutes below the qualifying time for my age group at Boston.

When you add in to the mix that 5 months before the Denver race I had a life threatening bout of pneumonia, I was beginning to think that maybe I could do this. Qualify for Boston, that is. I recognize that for many people that doesn't really mean much, but for the recreational runner, it's the pinnacle of accomplishment.

I figure it makes sense to me to build on top of the conditioning I did for the Denver half marathon, rather than waiting for some other time and possibly have to start from a less prepared position. So, after looking for marathons at sea level, that fall at roughly the right point in time to allow me to prepare, and have a reasonably flat course thereby giving me a decent change to qualify, I settled on the 2010 Napa Marathon. The timing of the Napa Marathon has the added benefit of allowing me to take a shot at a second marathon in the fall of 2010 should I have issues at Napa.

The training program I've selected (more on that another time) says I need 16 weeks to get ready. That means Monday is the day to start training. If I'm going to do it. That makes this morning the last morning of indecision.