It is a paradoxical but profoundly true
and important principle of life
that the most likely way to reach a goal
is to be aiming not at that goal itself
but at some more ambitious goal beyond it.
~ Arnold Toynbee
and important principle of life
that the most likely way to reach a goal
is to be aiming not at that goal itself
but at some more ambitious goal beyond it.
~ Arnold Toynbee
My Google homepage includes a daily quote, and that was yesterday's. Rather timely for me, as I'm still dithering about whether to run a full marathon – my first – or a half this fall.
As I said yesterday, I've given myself plenty of time to train. I have two half-marathons under my belt. I'm in excellent health, except for the extra avoirdupois I'd like to shed.
My husband would prefer I run another half. He was with me at the Army 10-Miler last October, where a man half my age collapsed and died. He (my husband) watched the ambulance leave; to say it left a lasting impression is quite the understatement. He's thisclose to forbidding me to run a full marathon, but realizes he has no right to do so.
The quote makes me think that if I train for a full, I'll probably post a PR for a half. That's a good and worthy goal. My first half-marathon remains my PR; each subsequent race has resulted in a slower pace. That's only mildly discouraging; as M@rla commented yesterday, showing up/running/finishing is winning, no matter the pace.
Honestly, though, when I read the quote, my first thought was, "If I train for an Ironman, will I be ready for a full marathon in six months?"
Call me crazy.
1 comment:
Well, I ran a full marathon in my early 30's and I would NEVER do one again because of the suffering I endured both the day of the race & for days afterwards. However, I was under-trained. I did not even know what a marathon training schedule was. I just ran a lot every day then headed off to do the race. My longest run before that had been about 10 miles on dirt. The marathon was in SF on pavement. The muscle pain may have been the worst pain of my life. I weighed about 135 lbs at the time (5'7"). In the end I came to love 10K and 10 mile races.
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