To update you on last night, I did indeed give up after 2.5 miles. And this morning I did only 1 mile in the morning (but that was in addition to 20 minutes of free weights). I blame school. My degree is in Industrial and Labor Relations, and I took quite a few classes on bargaining and negotiations, several of which involved mock bargaining situations. When I was on the management side, I busted the union and got all the workers to take massive pay cuts. When I was on the union side, I increased union strength and even got management to give our workers raises in times of trouble. My non-existent running plan is a pretty weak match for my awesome powers of negotiation. At least my resolve not to eat the cheesecake held up.
Anyway, I’m planning on doing the NYRR Colon Cancer Challenge 15K on Sunday. It’s going to be my first race in a very long time… almost a month. Hard to believe it, because for a few weeks there I was doing a race every weekend (I know that’s not too smart, but I’m not a pro or trying to run like one so my race pace is pretty much the same as a training run, with the addition of people cheering, a more accurate time, and bagels at the end).
So I signed up last night, and I’m all set to go. The problem is, I really wanted to get in a long run (16+ miles) this weekend. I don’t think it would be smart to do 25+ miles in a weekend by doing my long run on Saturday, so my next best option is to do more on Sunday after finishing the race.
However, I really don’t want to be “that guy” who turns around at the finish and runs backward down the course. Well, I kind of do want to be “that guy” and feel all superior… but I also think it’s a rude thing to do. Whenever I run a race and see “that guy” coming back from the finish when I’m struggling at the halfway point, it really pisses me off. Why does he need to show off? Stand at the finish and clap for me, darn it! What’s your opinion on “that guy”?
Option two is to keep running but head out of the park – maybe over to Riverside Park and then down the Hudson for a ways. The downside of this option is that I don’t get to enjoy the post-race festivities.
The final option is to enjoy the finish party and then go running later. I don’t trust myself with this option though – when I stop running, I stop running. And I will probably not start again for at least another 24 hours (okay, who am I kidding… another week).
But skipping my long run? That is not an option.
I was sitting here going “ah, I can skip my run today, it’s just a recovery run.” But you have guilting me into it. Thank you.
I skipped my short run yesterday because just reading this post made me tired :-).
Kiddin, have a great race!