"It's all mental!"

That was the first advice i have gotten about running a marathon. This from Mike, who owns Gracie's Ravioli up the street. He's one of the poo-bahs of Rockland Road Runners and when I was in there yesterday for some olive oil, I mentioned to him my plan (didn't mention the play part, the place was kind of busy). I told him I was thinking about it and he said 'you'll have no problem'. Then he said the mental part. I left him with: Yeah, if I can get my mind into it, maybe my body will follow.

Of course, most things come down to mental prep, when you get right down to it. You have to believe you can do something before you can do it. That's what I've always thought. When I get nervous before a performance, it helps to visualize doing it; sure there are other tricks as well, relaxation exercises and what have you, but visualization is key.

The marathon thing isn't that intimidating oddly enough. Once I made the decision, I can see how to get there. A gradual ramping up of mileage over the coming months. I used to love long runs, it was very meditative, and when you get used to it, your mind seems to float above your body, as separate entities . . . but four hours is a lot.

I was looking at my running times of recent races last night, I put together an excel spread sheet to keep track. I'm running the Turkey Trot this morning (happy T day!) Two years ago my time was a shade over ten minute miles (10:07 to be exact); last year was 8:58. Nice improvement. I attribute at least part of that to weight loss, from running and working out a lot more regularly. I don't expect the same this year. I expect to hover around the nine minute neighborhood, which is just fine for me.

Just for the record, my time for the half marathon was 2:06 (the same as my first 15 miler thirty plus years ago); my time for the 10 miler was 1:29. If you're wondering the half marathon time comes to 9:40 minute mile average; the ten miler: 8:55.

Anyway, I digress and I have to go for the Turkey Trot. More soon. Mindy got a laugh out of when I told her that the marathon idea was her fault. She thought I was kidding! I was actually . . . sort of.