3 days in the writing

I started writing this about 3 days ago, and had intended to rant a little, but as the days have moved on, I kept getting pulled away, and now the things I was going to talk about have moved to the back burner, as life is happening fast for me right now. But that's a good thing.

I'll hit 2 of the things I had started to write about very quickly, then move on. #1 Bucket List Marathons. I have no problem with this, people of all abilities running a race is one of the great things about running. My only thought is that if you ran one in your life, don't spend the rest of it telling people you are a runner. Or a marathoner in the present tense.

The Raven who was showcased on ESPN. I got into a couple debates about it on Runners World, and all I will say is that at some point, even the healthiest of things can be considered a disease. If they had showcased it by showing all the people coming out to run with him, his clearing of the 100,000 mile mark, and that was it, I would have walked away from the story thinking it was a neat piece. Once they started to talk about how much he hurt, how he couldn't get from room to room some days, how his back was so messed up, it changed the story for me. If I drink 8 beers a day to fight my inner demons, at some point go see a doctor who tells me that I should stop drinking, yet I don't listen, should I be celebrated for this? It's an unpopular opinion I know, but again, just because it's physical activty, doesn't make it healthy when it gets out of hand. And that's all I'm going to say on that anymore.

With Monday rapidly approaching, the Bolder Boulder looms on Memorial Day. I am excited. Although it's just a 10k. it has a marathon like feel to it because over 50,000 people will run it. I have run 4 10k's in my life up to this point, with half of them being in Boulder. My first BB was a mess, with last year's being almost scientific in the way that I ran. I remember talking to Marty and Steve in PM, saying I wanted to run a 42:59, which isn't that fast, but I had run a 46:xx in Boulder the year before, a 44:xx was my PR, and the last 10k I ran was a 46:xx as I was fighting injury trying to get ready for Chicago last year. I ran a 42:58 at last years race, within 1 second. It's a 6:59 pace. The thing is...I have no race plan, I can't even think about a goal time right now. Last year I ran this same race, after running the same marathon, and PR'd. so logic would tell me it's possible for the same thing to happen here. The difference this year is that after I ran my May marathon last year, I took time off, to let myself heal and recover, as opposed to this year, where I took 2 days off running, and I actually biked those days, and got back after it. With 5 weeks between then and Steamboat, I had no time to rest. The curve of recovery to strength again is the biggest question mark for me at this point. Running a poor time at Boulder is not the end of the world, not with 13 days to the Steamboat Marathon, and a taper coming...

On that note, I still don't know what to do about my taper. I ran 5 days as I headed into my last marathon, and think I'll be around the same this time. Although with more miles. I was in the 20's last time, I'm thinking more like 30 something this time.

Happy Memorial Day weekend everyone. It's the beginning of summer. The beginning of a new season, the best season of all. I'll talk to you after Boulder.