I'm not a runner...(but maybe I'm a cyclist)

Joy here...Okay, Nomi wrote about taking the plunge and signing up for a full marathon, and then I grappled with that same notion myself, committing to doing it.  I may be regretting that.

You see, when I was all gung-ho about running a full marathon, I was thinking "okay, if I can run for 2 hours, and I expect to complete a full marathon in around 4 hours, then I have July, August, and September to get from 2 to 4 hours of running."  I sat on the long plane ride back from Malaysia, doing the math and scheming.  "Okay, that's 12 weeks, so adding 10 minutes per week on my long runs, and that's an extra 120 minutes on my 2 hour base.  Yep, that's doable."  I settled into our long 12 hour flight from Beijing to Toronto and felt like my goal of a full marathon was within my sights.  "Yeah," I thought to myself as I watched movie after movie on my little screen, "I'll be able to complete a full marathon as a 35th birthday present to myself.  What an achievement."

But you know what they say about counting chickens before they've hatched?  Um, I think I was busy counting chickens a bit too early.

Since returning from Malaysia nearly 3 weeks ago, I think I've done a total of 3 or 4 lame runs.  None of them have been up to 2 hours, and at this point I feel like I'm a running novice.  And instead of having a 2 hour base to build on over three months, I now have about a 1 hour running base and less than three months to go until the full marathon.

I don't think I can do it.

Really.

I really don't think I can do it.

The problem isn't my ambition or motivation, it's truly the number of hours in the day and the demands on my time.  I've had to take two trips for work, and I've got another one coming up next week.  When I have to travel, not only is my schedule screwed up by the travel itself, but the difficulty also arises when I'm not in charge of my own eating.  If I don't eat regularly every day at regular intervals, then even if I have an hour or two to try to squeeze in a ride, I won't necessarily have the energy to do so.  It's disappointing and frustrating.

So I'm trying my best not to be disappointed and frustrated, but to be realistic.  And realistically, I am able to head out for a bike ride every now and then, and since I'm having to face the sad fact that not only do I not have proper running fitness, but I don't really have much fitness, period; I'm thinking that a ride is better than nothing.  So yesterday, after taking a week off doing any physical activity (blamed on travelling, again)...I went out for a 65km bike ride with a friend of mine.  We were faster than our previous loop of the park, and it was a glorious summer day with a nice, cool breeze.

Instead of beating myself up over failing in my full marathon training aims, I tried to focus on the Beverley Hills swimming pool blue of the sky and the bright green of the leaves; the feel of the wind against my sun freckled shoulders down the descents; the sight of a hawk riding the air with wings outstretched; the feeling of camaraderie with the other women riders we met up top the lookout; and generally feeling that even if I'm not a runner at the moment, I may just be a cyclist, and, heck, that's better than nothing, right?

Over and out,
Joy

PS - To commemorate all this riding, I treated myself to a new pair of shoes, because nothing cheers up a woman like footwear!