Giving the 26.2 Distance Another Chance

I didn't make a big deal about it earlier, but on April 24 I handed an absurd amount of money over to New York Road Runners so I can run the 2013 New York City Marathon. I'm sure you know by now that the 2012 NYC Marathon was cancelled due to hurricane Sandy. I had already made the trek up to New York when I found out. Part of me was heartbroken while the other part of me was relieved. I had wanted to do this race long before I started running but I also wasn't adequately trained to run a marathon.

In the hours following the cancellation I debated whether or not to sign up for a different marathon. I hadn't put in as much training as I would have liked but I did build my way up to a 20 mile training run. I didn't want the training that I did do to be put to waste. I signed up for a marathon that was 30 minutes from my parents house and very low-key. The scenery wasn't ideal and I spent the entire day wishing I wasn't running a marathon.

After finishing the Harrisburg Marathon the last thing on my mind was running another marathon. I had always imagined myself running more than one but my first experience at the distance was so miserable that I couldn't bear to think about possibly doing another one.

Why, you might ask, did I sign up to run my second marathon a mere 12 months after my first marathon? The main reason is because I want to run the New York City Marathon. I love big cities, especially New York, and this has always been a dream of mine. I also have dreams of working up to the Ironman distance in triathlons and 2013 would be my last real chance to train for a marathon without it impacting triathlon training.

The last reason, which may be the most important one, is that I didn't train sufficiently for my first marathon in the slightest. I had no idea what I was doing and it showed on race day. I want to actually train for this race and then see how I feel about the marathon distance. I think the half marathon will always be my sweet spot but I want to give this 26.2 mile thing another chance. And after how well I did in the half marathon this spring I think I have the potential to take a big chunk of time off of my PR.

So on November 3 you can find me running the streets of New York City. I am terrified about running another marathon but I am also excited.