Doing Too Much & Not Enough
Just about every night since he was born, before I put my son to sleep I read him a story. After the story, he climbs on my shoulders and I carry him to bed. He just turned seven. Over the past year he’s added an additional component. Once he climbs on my shoulders he begin doing inverted sit-ups with me holding his legs. I gladly accepted the challenge and threw in a squat for every sit-up he does. The number of reps varies at times but he’s done up to twenty five on a good night. At this rate, he’ll have a six pack by his eighth birthday.
This time I’m able to spend with him is important to him which makes it important for me. I treasure it every day.
The fact is, we all choose our priorities and the less we bend on them, the more it affects our goals. While I’m driven to qualify for Boston, I have other priorities in my life and knowing the order of your own priorities is extremely important in setting realistic timelines on your goals.
Over the past two weeks, my training has been going surprisingly well in spite of the fact that I missed quite a few days of training in the weeks leading up to this. As the California International Marathon(CIM) rapidly approaches, I’ve had to face some facts. I ran 40 miles last week. By the end of this week I’ll have run about 45 miles. I should be running almost twice as many miles at this stage in the game.
Could I push the envelope, break the golden 10% rule of runners training and still qualify for Boston? Possibly, but it wouldn’t be the wisest decision. It would increase the chance of injury, tax my body unnecessarily and potentially move me from the position from racer to spectator.
For this and many other reasons, I’ve decided to delay my Boston Qualifying attempt until March 2022. It was a difficult decision to come to for me. My younger self associated delays with defeats and although I no longer see it this way, it triggered me.
CIM is in less than one month. This morning’s long run was 17 miles. Honestly, it felt surprisingly good. I kept pace at about 8min/mi. The route was relatively flat. The temperature was great marathon weather. After the run, I was still able to work, do laundry and play with the kids. Life doesn’t stop because of goals. When I was young, single and had no kids life was simpler. After a hard workout, I had the option of doing absolutely nothing for the rest of the day. I’d often make Netflix my best friend and binge watch episodes of 24 while waiting for the pain to go away. That’s no longer an option, but in some ways, I’ve grown to love this stage of life even more.
At the present moment, my plan is to run CIM in December as a “training run” and race to qualify for the Boston Marathon in March 2022 at the Oakland Marathon. After sulking over the fact that I probably wouldn’t be BQing this year, I got excited about the possibility to Qualify for Boston in Oakland for several reasons:
I’ve Run The Town
In 2014, my first ever road race was in the streets of Oakland. This race is what made me fall in love with distance running. I ended up running this race three years in a row, becoming an ambassador of the race and even signing up for their half-marathon series races in San Francisco and Livermore.
Experience Matters
As the captain of Black Men Run Bay Area chapter, I chose the Oakland Marathon as our target race three years in a row. I’ve run the marathon relay with teams twice.
Running For A Better Oakland
In 2017 I mentored & trained youth to run their first half marathon with a community group called Running for a Better Oakland. This year, my wife and two sons ran the 5k in the Oakland Marathon. I ran the half. It was an amazing experience.
Queen Hippie Gypsy at Mile 25!
My wife and I own a crystal shop on 14th St. in downtown Oakland called Queen Hippie Gypsy. The race path is going to run right by the shop in the final mile of the race! Just look for the beautiful lady in front of the colorful store. I couldn’t make these things up.
The journey thus far has been amazing and I’m excited about where it leads. After I qualify for Boston, meet me at the info table in Celebration Village. I’m looking forward to hearing about your race experience and your future goals. This is only the beginning…
