On October 19, I will have been writing this blog for two years. A month and a half later on December 2, I will run my sixth marathon, the California International, my last chance to qualify for the Boston Marathon before the deadline I set myself in my blog's title.
If I don't make the Boston cut-off on Dec. 2, I will continue the quest. I have a good coach, a program based on heart rate that I have enjoyed every day I've run on it and a real understanding of what doing this will take for someone like me. I've made lots of friends who support me both with their words and their examples. I've got a good balance now between my family, my job and my running. I can say I honestly feel that Boston is achievable.
Much of that I owe to this blog. But because I think every good story in old-fashioned print or online has a beginning, a middle and an end, my last post to this blog will be on January 21, 2013, the day I turn 40. I'm planning to have a big party that day that will involve running, and I want to exit this blog on a high note.
This end is nigh regardless of the outcome in Sacramento. I know there is a good chance I will not BQ by 40. I've had too tough a year, and my endurance base has eroded. I feel like my training since I hired Darren in June has been excellent. But even excellent training can't make up for a serious lack of miles for too long a time.
The outcome of the story that's meant to end on Jan. 21 was never certain. Not all stories have happy endings. But the beauty of real life as opposed to books is that in books (and blogs) the story may end otherwise than as you wanted.....but the life goes on and with it come other chances, other beginnings and endings. I'm already proof of this, as my whole adult running life has been the blooming of a second chance not to fail.
This isn't to say I want to run slower than 3 hours 44 minutes 59 seconds at CIM. I'm going to do my level best to hit that golden pace and do what I set out to do two years ago. Underdogs sometimes win.
So I hope you'll stick with me through my next two races (there's also the little matter of a half-marathon in Detroit less than two weeks from now!) and through my birthday, when for better or worse I'll close the book on BQ by 40 and move on to wherever my running feet bring me during the next decade, my best decade yet.
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