That's Twice This Month You've Slipped Deadly Nightshade into My Tea and Run Off

And it's crunch time.

The marathon I had my sights set on running is in four weeks. Minus one week for the easy run to warm up for the big day, and I am left with three weeks to get my miles up to twenty six. What am I at? Well, I was at fourteen four weeks ago. Meaning, I haven't been running in four weeks. So, I'm at zero I guess.

My big excuse is that I've been sick. Besides that, I just don't have time! Getting up early enough in the morning that I can work out for an hour before Drek has to go to work is hard enough when I'm not getting enough sleep at night (and let's face, I'm just not a morning person) but finding three to five extra hours on Saturday, the only day Drek and I have to play together, just isn't happening.

And so I need to make a decision. I need to figure out what my goal is with regards to running. Is my goal to check of my New Years Resolution to run a marathon? Then I need to buck up, train like mad for the next three weeks, and finish that marathon even if I have to crawl. It's only three Saturdays I'm sacrificing, and after that I'll never have to run again.

But I'm not sure that's my goal. Is my goal to be a long distance runner or to enjoy running? Then I should forget this marathon, start back at six miles, and work on my speed as well as my miles, so my Saturday long runs are squeezed into a time that only increases by a few minutes. I'll still have to get up early on weekdays and find time on Saturdays, but not nearly as much time, and I should be going slow enough that I can spend the rest of the Saturday playing instead of sleeping. I should focus on a schedule that fits me, and only when I'm ready should I look for a marathon that fits into my schedule.

Or is my goal to run to lose weight or stay healthy? In that case, forget the marathon altogether and just do forty five minutes of sprints on Saturdays (in addition to my hour runs during the week). That's the easiest solution.

I'm leaning more and more away from running this marathon. It's not just the training, it's the fact that it's three hours away, so we'd have to get a hotel, and I just don't want to spend the money. The Marathon registration fee isn't cheap, you know. I really don't want to pour all that money into it if I'm going to be crawling across the finish line.

So what do I want? Well, I do love running. I want to run, and I want to keep it fun. I want to run barefoot, because I love running barefoot. I want to see progress, not just pounds lost, but in miles gained. I want to see myself go faster and farther. I want run a marathon barefoot, and I want to enjoy it.

I guess all that points to option two: work on speed and distance, don't worry about a marathon until I'm running twenty miles every Saturday.

Thanks, blogging. Another problem solved thanks to you.