[tweetmeme source=”luau” only_single=false http://www.URL.com]
Manchester Marathon 2009 – Mile 20 – frozen quads.
Boston Marathon 2010 – Mile 20 – minor bonk.
Providence Marathon 2010 – Mile 1 – buckling knee.
New York City Marathon 2010 – Miles 5, 13, 20 and 22 – nausea and cramps.
Boston Marathon 2011 – Mile 17 – Major bonk.
The Ghosts of marathons past are rising up and swirling around me.
Knee twinge.
Back Spasm.
Foot pain.
The Phantom pains are emerging for their regular “1 week before the marathon” visit.
***
These Ghosts and Phantoms haunt me. They sit on my shoulder and ask me questions like, “do you really want to run this marathon?”, “why are you going to put yourself through this?”, “are you ready for all of that pain?”, “are you ready to fail?”
These ghosts and phantoms are always there, but their voices get louder every time I am in the closing days of marathon training. It doesn’t help that this training cycle has been a complete wash. Most of the time their voices can be ignored, in part because during training, there is nothing “official” at stake. But with one week to go these ghosts, these phantoms will not be ignored. Every time I see another runner out there training, or I walk by my training log, or I see the current temperature outside, they make their noise.
But there are other ghosts…
***
Manchester Marathon 2009 – Mile 26.2 – 1st marathon!
Boston Marathon 2010 – Mile 26.2 – 1st Boston – PR!
Providence Marathon 2010 – Mile 26.2 – PR!
Smuttynose Marathon 2010 – All of it! – PR & BQ!!!
New York City Marathon 2010 – Mile 26.2 – finishing despite the pain.
Boston Marathon 2011 – Miles 20 – 26.2 – drinking beer and chatting with friends as I jogged to the finish.
These are also ghosts and not all ghosts need to be scary. Just like Glinda proved that not all witches are ugly or evil, these ghosts also shout out as next Friday night get closer and closer. These are the ghosts I will choose to listen to. Like I said, the training cycle for this upcoming marathon has been almost non-existent. Who knows what kind of mojo I will bring to Wakefield. If temperatures are what they are today, I will simply change my goals for race day, but as for now, I will continue to strive for 3:15 and hope the good ghosts of marathons past will help carry me to the finish.
Run Luau Run 
What a great goal time! I’ll be routing for you. Ghosts of the past, right?! 🙂
Thanks Joanne!
Buddy, you got this. Because you’ve had the right attitude about it the whole training cycle. You’ve been flexible and resilient and you’re more mentally prepared than ever! I’m so sorry I couldn’t get a team together to help-out. I really wanted to be there for you. I expect a call or a text or SOMETHING with the news!