A NEW FOCUS

The Ambassador Bridge, which you cross into Canada very early on in the Detroit Marathon.

Things have seemed to round into form lately after a two week swoon where my body felt like it was going to shut down. Whatever the cause of that was is hopefully over as I've gotten a couple solid weeks of training in. The biggest challenge this summer, other than my old man body, has been the weather. Normally it's hot when training for a fall marathon. However, this summer it has been record hot. Check out this article from the Oregonian. This summer has seen the most 90 degree days of any summer ever in recorded history. Yikes!

Unfortunately, I've used that as an excuse to not run many days. I just can't bring myself to get out there and run when it is so hot. However, the weather is not a valid excuse. You still run, you just run with water and slower if you need to. The last couple of weeks I have shifted my focus and stopped giving into excuses. I haven't been perfect, but my training has been better. The last couple of weeks I've felt much better about the Portland Marathon. I might not be PRing it, but I can certainly run it and run it at a decent clip.

Also, just in the last few days, I found out that I'll be running the Detroit Marathon by myself. At first this was a huge bummer. I was really looking forward to running a marathon at a slower pace and helping to pace someone. I wanted to feel what a 4:30 marathon felt like... would it be a more pleasant experience overall or would I get just as tired and sore due to that extra hour of running? Well, hopefully one day I'll be able to see. However, it won't be this year.

PRC. It was a hot one. No excuses!

Once I starting thinking about it, I was kind of excited to run Detroit a little harder. I think most of the pressure will be off when I go to Michigan two weeks after Portland. Hopefully I'll run a good time in Portland (sub 3:45?) and be content with it. The only way I think I'll feel a lot of pressure in Detroit is if I blow up at Portland and have a really bad race. Not a mini-blow up like last year, but walking most the final six miles over four hours type of deal.

Otherwise, Detroit should be an empty slate. I'll pretty much not run at all for two weeks after Portland (maybe a small run or two after taking at least an entire week off). Hopefully this'll allow my body to recover from the marathon. At that point I should be recovered AND in good shape due to my recent marathon. So, the hope is, I'll be able to run Detroit at the same clip and perhaps even feel better towards the end of the race. There are a lot of potential issues though, like lack of sleep adjusting to the East Coast, not my own bed, traveler's bowel, etc. So we'll see.

Long story short, I was already feeling more focused and determined before learning about Detroit, but now I'm even more so. I'm actually kind of excited to see what happens. I usually train for months, do one marathon, then back off. So this'll be a new experience. I highly doubt multiple marathons will become routine, but it's worth a shot. Plus, ever since I've heard about Detroit, I've wanted to do it. I'd be a little more bummed if I planned to run the Omaha Marathon with someone and then had to run it on my own, but Detroit? That's fine by me!