Tuesday, March 14, 2006

DNF behind me, 50K before me

Thank you again for your encouraging words, this has helped me fight the psychological battle going on in my mind the last day or two.

A New Plan

My wife was in school last night so I sat in my favorite living room chair, propped my feet up and read through the marathon schedule for this year. I am considering one the following events for the Fall:

- The Pirmasens Forest Marathon on September 10th (10% asphalt)
- The Black Forest Marathon on October 8th (60% asphalt)
- The Roentgenlauf Marathon or 63K Ultramarathon (10-20% asphalt)

My first choice is Pirmasens, its only about 70 minutes from our house, whereas the other two are 3-4 hours.

Some Old Business

I still very much want to do the Westerwald 50K Fun Run on May 25th. This was very much a factor in my decision to DNF on Sunday.

I also plan on running the 1st Annual Stutensee 10K Fun Run on April 2nd. This is a local event and I want to be a part of it. I am not particularly concerned about setting any records, I am just going to go run for me.

There are a bunch of 10K and half-marathons throughout the summer that I may participate in. I was thinking about a 63K Ultramarathon on July 22, but I don’t know yet. I’m not hungry for this yet, I think I first need to get over the DNF hump.

Getting over the DNF Blues

I caught myself looking at the marathon schedule for April. It kind of hurts that I trained so long and didn’t complete the marathon on Sunday. This is part of the DNF struggle. I was reading in a book by Dan Glover last night that one of the first reactions after a DNF is to seek a new event to “prove” to one’s self and the world that we are not a failure. There is a marathon on April 2 that I could run and would have a very good chance of finishing. But I sat and thought about if for awhile last night and decided that I don’t need to prove anything to anyone and I already know that I can complete a marathon.

I don’t know if this makes any sense to anyone but me, but this is my way of putting a bad day behind me and getting on with my next project. I know from my own training that not every day is perfect, we have to take the bad with the good and keep going. I’ve started a list of things that may have contributed to my DNF and when I’m done I will hang it up next to my training schedule as a reminder to help me avoid making the same mistakes again. I will probably post the list when I'm done with it, maybe it's useful for someone.

And Life Goes On

So that said, my legs feel much better today, I may take a short jog tomorrow night to loosen up the running machinery. Tonight I might go upstairs and dust off my free weights – it’s been a long time since I did any upper body training.

Comments:
Jack, I think you are making great sense. You surely do NOT need to prove anything to anyone. You are an oasis in a sea of insanity. You're a very wise man. (as opposed to a wise guy, which is an entirely different thing!)
 
you are moving on so well from this experience, good job!
 
you are approaching the DNF with the best attitude. it was a learning experience and you saved your legs for a better day. And a better day will come!
 
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