Now that the Cleveland Half Marathon is less than two weeks away, I’m finally excited about it. It’s been one of those events that I’ve put on the back-burner. Sure I’ve been training for it, but I sort of feel like I’ve been avoiding talking about it in great detail.
When I “downgraded” from the full to the half, I never really offered up an explanation for why I did that. I don’t really feel like I have to explain, but this past month and a half have been much better because of that decision.
Here are a few random thoughts I’ve had that haven’t made it to the blog:
- I loosely use the word “downgrade,” but I really hate that word. It doesn’t make me less of a runner to have made a smart decision.
- Coming off Shamrock, I thought I was hurt. When I knew I had to take some downtime, the appropriate miles and runs I needed for a full marathon made no sense. I would have had a spike in mileage that would have increased my injury risk.
- Focusing on 13.1 instead of 26.2 in these crazy seasonal changes has helped mentally. One time I said that running a 20-miler sounded appealing in April; no weekend last month was very appealing for anything longer than what I did.
- I’ve been able to focus on getting stronger and faster. Sure, I could have done that with marathon training, but I feel like my runs in the past month have been of much, much higher quality than had I continued with marathon training.
- I was able to keep things fun. Running through an orchard and then over a mountain is something I might not have done with marathon training.
- Lastly, running a certain time in 26.2 miles or just finishing a marathon isn’t important to me right now. It will later this year, but the time wasn’t right for me to set those goals.
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Glad that you are getting excited! Should be a great event.