No Whining!

Like a child at Christmas, I am waiting for noon today. That's when I am 'allowed' to register for the Gettysburg North South Marathon. It is a self imposed waiting period and there is no one to stop me or scold me if I jump the gun. Nevertheless I will wait. And while I wait I am going to write this post. It may ramble because I am not sure how to tell this story.

A few weeks ago, after the Philadelphia Distance Run, I was ready to give up on marathons. My last few runs leading up to it, the race itself and a few weekday runs just after it were less than stellar. Less than stellar means I wasn't having fun. I felt beat up, tired and defeated. Yet, I knew I did not want to give up running. So my plan was to get through the Philadelphia Marathon in November and then spend 2011 focusing on half marathons. I got through the mental defeat of that spell with the help of enthusiastic training partners (to whom I wouldn't admit my plan to give up yet) and from this blog.

First about the training partners. The USA/Fit philly folks are generaly excited about the November marathon; especially the first timers. Oh, there is anxiety, no doubt, but it's tempered with enthusiasm and a "WE can do it" attitude. It is contagious. My mind was still set on the half marathon focus for 2011, but their attitide was keeping me smiling, moving and training for November. If you've never trained with a group it may be hard to unerstand how this works. I'm not really sure I fully understand the phenomenon but I'm going to try.

We have a "no whining" philosophy at phillyfit. No whining can mean a lot of things. Recently we determined that statements of fact are not whining. For example, "I do not like this stretch of the trail" is a fact ...not a whine. "My foot hurts" is a fact ....not a whine. There is likely a fine line between fact and whining. :) I think the real benefit to 'no whining' is that it forces you to get out of your own head. At Phillyfit we've all have bought into the idea that we are there for eachother as much as for ourselves. It's not something we formally decided to do, it just happens. If you are watching out for others you can't get overyly wrapped up in your own stuff.

So what about the benefits of this blog. I write these as if I'm talking to someone else but really I'm talking to myself. Although I don't think I mentioned wanting to quit marathons before this (I know others read it and I didn't want to rain on their parade) but  I tried to be honest about how I was feeling after each weekend long run - good or bad. It helps to get stuff out of my head.

Obesessing is really just trying not to forget. It's important to remember how I did or felt on a training run or race so I can do better next time or recapture the good. Leaving those thoughts here means I can let it go, move on to other things. I know where to find my thoughts when I need them. Leaving my defeated feelings here helped me be open to the attitude of my training partners and to the possibility that I was just having an off couple of weeks.

Now about the Gettysburg North South Marathon. I wasn't even looking for anymore marathons. Two Facebook friends 'liked' it and I was curious enough to check out the link and the webpage. I love the idea of another inaugural event (Hershey was one too!), I love the idea of the two divergent courses, and I love the promise of some historic perspective to the event. I've been to Gettysburg and think the area will make a great backdrop. Without my awesome training partners and this blog I might not have had enough curiosity to even look at it. My excitement about this race would not have been possible!

So in 35 minutes I will register and have a goal for training through the winter. Would anyone like to join me?