Last week, I got this idea. What if I ran 18 miles last Saturday and 21 miles this Saturday. Then I'd upgrade from the half marathon to the full marathon in Las Vegas in December. Neat!
Admittedly, last Saturday wasn't the ideal time for an extra long run. We had house guests for the weekend and Saturday afternoon we were hosting a barbecue at our place. I had all the major pre-party work completed and Steve stepped up to do all the day-of-party details. While I headed out for a run, Steve, his brother and his cousin spent the morning setting up tables and chairs on the patio and picking up food and ice.
Of course, I didn't mention the "Upgrade to Full Marathon" plan to Steve. We've both done the full marathon. He knows, and I know, that I wouldn't be well prepared with just one 18 mile and one 21 mile run. I'd be prepared, but not well prepared. With the consistency of my training base, I could probably do a (very ouchy) full marathon today.
During my run on Saturday at about mile 11, it finally hit me. This is not the way I want to run races. It's not enough for me to just finish; I want to run strong. Yes, I could do the full marathon. It would not be fun and I wouldn't run well, but I could do it.
And that was the end of the "Upgrade to Full Marathon" plan. I ran 16 miles and went home to a fabulous family and a yummy barbecue.
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