Round 2

Its been a dramatic year.

My niece was born.
Moved into a new apartment.
Career change, followed by unemployment.
Deciding to run the marathon again.

The Chicago Marathon is less than two weeks away, being moved back to its traditional time of the first weekend in October. I have mixed feelings, but the prevailing one is excitement. That followed by a fear of not finishing because I'm so excited. People warn of starting out too fast and crashing at the end. I've improved my pace and its difficult to go slow knowing this. I want to break the 5 hour mark at least. Last year I had two goals 1) finish 2)finish arounf 4:45 if possible.

Well, given the many breaks I needed to stretch cramping & tight muscles and a short walk break near mile 24, I finished around 5:07 and some change. Was I disappointed? Yes & no. I fiished. That's the important thing, I kept telling myself. The competitor in me wanted a better time. The other part of me wanted a beer at the finish.

So, here we go again. I want to prove to myself that it wasn't a fluke. I want to finish strong and take away all I can from this experience because I don't know if I'll run a marathon again in my life. I want it to be untainted. Only I know what I mean by that. A few others can guess.

Oh, and I will have a beer.