There is something about turning 50 that actually gives you more drive, some call it mid life crisis, I call it staying in shape. I was due to run my 20 in training for Portland on September 13th and just did not see myself running that far on a treadmill right before my birthday. So an idea hit me, that only a true marathon maniac would think of...run a marathon again to train for a marathon! Good headwork, not!
I'm not a big fan of "rural" marathons as it is more mental then physical in my opinion. But, this was very well run by a maniac, Terry, so I went against my general views and considered this a training run. But a fun marathon one it was! It was a hot day, no cloud cover at all. Additionally, my pace was good at first and I wasn't really tired at the end...I just had a problem running fast in the heat. Normally I would be quicker on a flat course, but I had not run more then 18, so that did not help (though I had 300 miles base in the prior 2 months).
All of that said, I completed a marathon, bottom line. It was the best finisher medal I have received in quite a long time too! This was marathon number 16 for me and 10 in the last 14 months, so I feel I can run Portland and make up for my 2003 collapse marathon...where I ran sick and barely finished! Hey, at 50 my times are very consistent with those run eight years ago when I started, so with good training you don't have to lose much speed the older you get. I've seen many older folks run much faster, so there is hope for me!
