The Day of Reckoning Has Arrived

Tomorrow, thousands of people will run the California International Marathon. I won't be one of them. It is still surreal that something I was so excited about, working so hard towards, is going to come and go so easily.

I haven't been biting my nails all week watching the weather reports of an upcoming "stormageddon," and neither have I been carefully planning and executing a pre-race-week meal plan. I haven't been making sure I get extra sleep, and I haven't been checking and re-checking my gear and race fueling plan.

I worked the Expo today, staffing the Buffalo Chips booth where we weighed in the Clydesdales and Athenas, and sold Chips gear and memberships. I started off by picking up my race packet and turing in my timing chip. I perused the booths, feeling much like an interloper, only recognizable as such from the waist down (and not recognizable when in front of a table).

The fact remains that it'll be a while before I'll be as well-trained, as ready to make a BQ attempt, as I was the day before I broke my leg six weeks ago. Fresh from three nearly-back to back marathons in a year, I was handling milage well and really making strides toward achieving my speed goals. Maybe it won't take as long as I think to get back to that place, but I don't want to assume it will be easy. Maybe I shouldn't be a pessimist, but I really don't want to have my hopes up and just be severely disappointed when I can't run a sub-1:40 half or a sub-3:50 full in the next six months.

On the plus side, tomorrow's CIM brings an opportunity to support my team. I'll be at the finish line Buffalo Chips booth feeding our finishers, hearing their race stories. I have quite a few friends with high goals for tomorrow, and I'm excited to see how they do.

Tomorrow also brings the Buffalo Bash, our annual holiday/awards banquet. I didn't attend last year,  since I didn't feel like a "real" Chip yet, which makes me all the more excited to attend this year.

Next year, I know I'll run the San Francisco Marathon in June. I know I'll be able to finish in under 4:00, and I hope I'm able to PR. Aside from that, who know. Maybe I'll be able to run a spring half, but I doubt I'll run a spring full marathon like I'd planned. I very unlikely to both complete my 10 marathons by 30 goal, and qualify for Boston. Qualifying for Boston seems more likely. 10 by 30 was an arbitrary, Monk-ish goal anyway...