the day that i never anticipated happening in my lifetime - is coming.
i haven't officially registered as of yet, but i've already mentally committed to participating in my first marathon in december! specifically, a trail marathon (why make it easy?) at the north face endurance challenge in san francisco, taking place december 1-2 at the gorgeous marin headlands. the all-weekend event actually has a host of distance options to choose from: 10K, half marathon, marathon, marathon relay, 50K and lastly 50M for the elite ultra marathoners.
when looking at upcoming races, i factored in terrain, date and location... in that order:
terrain because it had to be trail and not road. i've done the majority of my training on the trails, so it's my comfort leven and preference because of the sheer rush one gets from being outside and connected to nature. plus, i don't think i'd be able to finish 26.2M with the all the pounding from cement.
date because i'll need ample time to step up my training regimen to accommodate the extra miles. i acquitted myself well at my first half at xterra malibu creek in april, but going from 14M to 26.2M is a whole different story. literally, i didn't have another mile in me when i finished the race, so adding another 12 will be a beast.
the encouraging thing is i returned to malibu creek a few weeks ago to get retribution, and i fared much better physically the second time around. after finishing, i felt like i still had a few miles left in me, which was a good sign.
location because it should be somewhere scenic! the north face event jumped out at me because it's at the marin headlands - close to home (my family can root me on!), decent weather (hopefully it won't be raining), and the views on a clear day are breathtaking.
i'm both nervous, intimidated yet excited about diving in. even as recent as a year ago i had zero aspirations to run a marathon, so i've come a long way in just ten months. between the gradual improvement from hiking to parkour to trail running, entering a few races from my first warrior dash to april's trail half, and reading a few books (haruki murakami's what i talk about when i talk about running and christopher mcdougall's born to run in particular), i've gained proper inspiration from a multitude of sources, and think i'm finally ready.
bring it on!
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