Okay, if you've been following along here, you my have a sense for my crazed anxiety about this Saturday's marathon. If not, let me just say that for the past two weeks I've been VERY freaked out by the whole concept.
However, while I can still get myself pretty worked up over the whole thing, I'm feeling differently about things now. Don't get me wrong! I can still get worked up and easily head off down the road of pessimism but beginning Saturday my attitude started to change.
It seems my two biggest concerns have been a general but overwhelming fear of the unknown and an attitude of wanting to do my best while having no idea what to expect as my best. So these issues have turned me into the mental equivalent of a dog chasing its own tail!
An analogy occurred to me Monday morning which led me to wise words taught to me when I was a teenager.
The idea about preparing reminded me of a concept I was taught as a teenager by a respected member of the community. My friend's dad happened to be the Justice of the Peace as well as an ecclesiastical leader in the small town where I grew up. He was one of those people you occasionally meet who just seemed a bit wiser than the general population. Because of this and his position and personality, most people accorded him a degree of respect. At least as a young person, I know that I did. He once shared with me the concept of the 6 P's. I've used it many times since but it just occurred to me that it applies to my marathon training.
The 6 P's are:
Proper prior planning precludes poor performance.
Weeks ago I made my plan and I've stuck to it. There were training runs which I really enjoyed and some that I didn't. There were times when I felt great and times when I didn't. There were times when I didn't feel like running but I did. There were times when the Houston summer didn't offer ideal conditions but I went out anyway.
The plan was laid out and executed. There's really nothing left to do to give myself the best opportunity for a good marathon.
Now the analogy. It occurred to me that the marathon is not unlike a test from my days in school. Most of the time one never knows exactly what's going to be on the test. You probably have a general idea of the concepts but not the precise way the instructor will choose to test your knowledge or ability.
The marathon is the same except in a physical rather than mental sense. I have an idea of what the experience might be like but I don't know the exact way it's going to play out. What will it be like on the course with 7,000 other runners? How will I feel at Mile 22? ... I've never been that far. How hard can I push for a better time and still finish? There are dozens of questions but none can be answered until I'm living the experience. Just like the academic test, the only thing to do is study and prepare the best way you know how ... maybe rely on others who have taken the class or had the instructor before (thanks, Stephanie, Randy et al.) ... maybe you take an approach that has been successful in the past (Runners World SmartCoach worked for me at the Ogden Half Marathon in May). Once you've made your preparations, there's no more left to do but take the test ....
On Saturday morning at 6:45 am MDT, I'll step to the starting line to take the test. From there, I'll rely on my preparations over the past 16 weeks.
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