Tuesday, October 22, 2024 – The Marathon

Hi Everyone!

Wow, what a weekend. Such a whirlwind and so much to say. I’ll start with kudos. On Saturday there was the TCS 5K where Monica crushed the 19 minute barrier coming through in 18:45! Then on Sunday was the Half Marathon and Marathon. In the half, Graeme Ozburn came 4^th in his age group and Nir also ran a very quick race. In the Marathon we had Colette, Michelle, Jason (BQ!) and Chris (BQ and PB!) who all made us so proud through their own battles and victories.

I came across a beautiful piece of writing by writer and runner Peter Bromka. I will share an excerpt here as he puts it better than I could and captures it perfectly:

Welcome to the unraveling

The culmination of a marathon is fast paced protracted distress.

If done correctly you’ll arrive at the final miles barely able to face the harsh task that you’ve assigned yourself.

But there is beauty in your breakdown.

The feeling that something is terribly wrong? It means you’re doing it right. This is your moment of full extension. Pushing this hard for this long is what makes marathoning memorable. These intense solo efforts bind us together.

The sport is self-imposed suffering. Seeking discomfort to illuminate our humanity.

Even the Finish doesn’t owe you anything

Why do we do this?

To feel something. To move ourselves, to ensure that we don’t get stuck.

And most of all, we do this to be a part of something.

To insert our individual effort into a sea of human energy and force out the other side, hopeful that somehow we’ll be different. Changed in some way.

The point is the inconvenience. The delay without the guarantee of gratification. It’s structuring your weeks, months and years around something beyond daily life.

Racing 26.2 miles will break you. And that’s the point. To see where you stand when you are exposed.

This is you today.

And just like that, it’s over.

Turns out it wasn’t the distance, or the time. The two were simply tools you used to find something in yourself.

On the Richter scale of life there may not be many quakes as large as weddings, births or deaths, but we endeavor to feel something so indelibly that it won’t wash away as the waves of time crash against our memory.

Maybe that’s why we cry at marathon finish lines. Not for good or for bad, but for the honesty of the moment as we stand on that day.

The marathon doesn’t owe you anything, which makes it the perfect vessel in which to pour your everything.

To read the entire piece, click here:

https://bromka.medium.com/the-marathon-doesnt-owe-you-anything-904b4ae73993

On to tomorrow’s workout!

Hills! Let’s repeat what we did last week w the 2 x full (400m) and 6 min @ MRP. 3 sets sounds about right.  CIM people, this might be the last true hill wrkt. TBD. Still good to get the hill strength in there for now though and it complements the tempo/ long we’re doing this weekend. Boston people – there are never enough hills for you. Haha.

That is all – have a great one everyone and see some of you in the am!

xo

Seanna