Reality Check

When I first signed up for Marine Corps Marathon, I thought it would be just like training for my first Army Ten Miler...tough, but just gradually adding more distance and being fine. Well, guess what...it's a bit more complicated than that.

As it turns out, it is quite a bit more difficult to train for 26.2 miles vs. 10 miles. Hydration is a much bigger focus, but so is food. I found this out the hard way last Sunday after an attempted 11 mile run. I drank plenty of water, but the heat and humidity took more than that out of me. The main things? Well, they all happen to begin with the letter "E"...energy, electrolytes, and ego.

Funny thing, all those weird gel packs and gummy chews that they tell you to train with actually have quite a bit of significance. They aren't just calories for extra energy, but also have electrolytes. I never realized before Sunday that electrolytes actually are pretty important to maintain. That heat and humidity sucks you dry of these friendly little hydration-supporters, and before you know it you're facing heat exhaustion and puking on the side of the running path.

Hopefully you've gathered by now that I did not finish the 11 miler on Sunday. However, I did learn a lot from it, and hopefully can avoid another outcome like that one. The first step, and probably the toughest, was to slow down. One of the directors/coaches of the program told me that I'm in too fast a pace group, that I need to drop back 2 groups. At first, this crushed me. While I've always focused more on completion than time, I was proud of how well I was doing in a faster-than-usual group. Dropping back meant that I had to suck up a bit of pride, ego, and stubbornness, something that's not always easy.

Fighting with myself up until the last second, at this Wednesday's track workout, I joined up with the 11:40 pace group (instead of the usual 11 min group), and shyly introduced myself, head hanging slightly. Surprisingly, one of the coaches knew who I was, and everyone else in the group kindly introduced themselves and started up some friendly conversation. I didn't really expect anything different, since everyone in the program is very nice, but it was still a nice pick-me-up. As it turns out, the only one giving me a hard time about dropping back was myself.

My dad's girlfriend, Kathy, had been reminding me since Sunday that I was training for completion, not time. It took a little while for that reminder to sink in, but luckily it finally did. I had a bit of an ego trip that could have gotten me in quite a bit of trouble. Hopefully I can maintain this reality check that I've obtained, and remember what being tough in training actually means...pushing through the pain and overcoming challenges...without overdoing it.