Marathon training is a journey

Last night I got in the best quality training run I've had in the last two or three weeks. It was a 15 miler with the last 13 miles at marathon pace effort, and I managed 1:37:22 for the marathon pace segment which is right on track for a sub-3:15 marathon.

It got me to thinking that marathon training is usually a journey. Sometimes it is a journey filled with surprises, some of them happy ones, others disappointments. I know over the years I've been up and down during the training, and oftentimes marathon training involves a lot of doubts and second guessing.

Just a cursory glance at various marathon training discussions at online running forums shows that there is a lot of uncertainty involved for most marathoners and marathoners-to-be. Am I running enough, is the training plan I'm following right for me, how fast can I expect to finish the marathon, and so on and so on... If you look at marathon training in this light, then it isn't just the lead up to running some predetermined distance, marathon training is also a journey of self-discovery. We can learn a lot about ourselves, about our mental and physical capabilities, when we undertake the journey involved in preparing for a marathon.

I also believe the act of marathon training itself forces us to live in the moment, something that in this modern world we are not as accustomed to as we are either too worried about the unknown future or waxing nostalgic for the golden days of the past. Marathon training involves focusing on today's workout while building on your past running history and fitness in an effort to grasp a possible future goal.

However, instead of being full of anxiety, we should enjoy our journey and experience whatever this journey has in store for us. Get out there and just do it! In this regard, the poet Antonio Machado wrote some words that are pertinent:

Caminante, no hay camino
Se hace camino al andar

which roughly translated into English would be:

Traveler, there is no path
The path is made by walking

Don't fret but make your own path, and hopefully our paths will cross at a marathon or another shared crossroads down the line somewhere!