Inspiration & depression (from the same article)
The article in question was in today's paper. It's about a local woman who is going to be running Boston on Monday. The inspiration comes from the fact that Boston will be (only) her fourth marathon, and she made the qualifying time.
The depression stems from the fact that, if I am very lucky, and all goes well, my inaugural marathon time might get close to the 4 hour mark, meaning that, if I really pushed, I could break 3:50 before Chicago later on this year.
Of course, since I am (1) about 10 years younger; and (2) male, 3:50 doesn't cut it. I need to go about 2 minutes per mile faster for the entire course in order to qualify - and before someone chimes in with "Oh, anyone can do 3:10 with only a little work," I'd like to point out that no, some of us just aren't fast, either through birth or injury.
I might make it - if I work immensely hard, much more so than her training schedule. Maybe. Perhaps. I'm aware of all the differences between men and women when it comes to running, and aware as well of the effects of aging - but still. . . .it's somewhat discouraging to realize that, right now, my current level of effert would only let me run Boston if a 65-year old man, or a 50 year-old woman.
The depression stems from the fact that, if I am very lucky, and all goes well, my inaugural marathon time might get close to the 4 hour mark, meaning that, if I really pushed, I could break 3:50 before Chicago later on this year.
Of course, since I am (1) about 10 years younger; and (2) male, 3:50 doesn't cut it. I need to go about 2 minutes per mile faster for the entire course in order to qualify - and before someone chimes in with "Oh, anyone can do 3:10 with only a little work," I'd like to point out that no, some of us just aren't fast, either through birth or injury.
I might make it - if I work immensely hard, much more so than her training schedule. Maybe. Perhaps. I'm aware of all the differences between men and women when it comes to running, and aware as well of the effects of aging - but still. . . .it's somewhat discouraging to realize that, right now, my current level of effert would only let me run Boston if a 65-year old man, or a 50 year-old woman.
posted by Garou at 3:26 PM
1 Comments:
I know! I think the men's qualifying times are SO tough. I know you guys are built faster....but still. We're just ordinary people! Brent will need to take 2 mins per mile off our normal half M times while I only have to take 1 min per mile off, which does seem do-able. Oh well, it wouldn't be Boston if it wasn't tough!
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