The Abingdon Marathon is in 12 days, but I've decided not to run it. Not because I'm injured, but because I haven't been motivated to train properly and I'm not motivated to go through with it. When I first made this decision a few days ago, I was actually thinking I was done with the marathon forever, and that I wouldn't run London 2015 either. I was never going to give up on running, but I was tired of the marathon. I thought I'd switch to the half marathon, or even 5-10ks. Now I'm thinking I'd still like to run London 2015 however.
Here's what I've been thinking. Over the past several weeks, I'd found myself enjoying the Sunday long runs less and less. I think what was missing was the motivation of striving, and expecting, to run well. I was not expecting to be very fast at Abingdon. Maybe if I'd kept up the long runs, I could have finished in 3:30. I doubt very much I could have broken 3:15. I think part of me was feeling that anything over 3:15 would be a bit pointless, because it wouldn't qualify me good for age for London 2016. I don't just want to add another medal to my collection, I want to finish well, and I want to qualify for London. If I'm not fast enough to do that, then I think I should focus on shorter races.
Anyway a couple of days ago I had pretty much decided that I was quitting the marathon, although I had pretty strong mixed feelings about it. Then when I mentioned to Charles that I wasn't going to run London, he seemed so disappointed, "you have to!" he said, because he wanted to attend the pre-race expo with me again in 2015. I was surprised by how quickly I reconsidered skipping London, after hearing him say this.
So what I've decided to do is to skip Abingdon, but set my sights on London with a renewed focus. I'm going to train harder and cut fewer corners, to see if I can get back up to sub 3:15 speed. If I can, I'll qualify for London 2016 and 2017, and then maybe I'll keep running it as long as I can keep getting in.
