Feeling better about it all...

I had a great hilly 10km run last night with my running partner, the kind of run that was tough, but not too tough. It reminded me of some of the reasons why I enjoy doing this as a sport. As I've posted, I've had some motivation problems with my current batch of training, and have sought the advice of my closest friends and family.

The advice I've gotten seems to fall into the following categories:

1. You're crazy for doing Boston with such a low qualifying time (3:20); wait until your older.
2. You're crazy for doing the ENDURrun leading up to your BQ attempt; bow out of it, or do it super-slow and for fun.
3. You're burning out; take time off running. Boston isn't going anywhere.
4. Go out and meet some new runners you can train with; they'll motivate you.

Let me talk about each of these in turn.

1. Yes, I'm crazy, I know. But, as I've said before, to many people, Boston is my Olympics. I was never into sports as a kid, and the ones I was into I was bad at. I'm a computer nerd, and just once I'd like to do an event that I have to try out for, not just pay some money to participate in.
2. Yes, I probably shouldn't have done the ENDURrun this year. But it's done, and I am only doing it for the experience this year. I will NOT break myself in order to try and qualify. I only aim to keep my training and conditioning up, and perhaps improve it, on the way to Scotiabank.
3. This one I know is happening, hence the motivation problems. The plan is to take some major time off after Scotiabank; fun runs only. No more intense training for anything for a while.
4. This one is not a bad idea. I know a few people that are training at my pace, and I always do better running with others. I can't totally abandon my current running group, but the idea of doing some of the runs with new blood is appealing.

Even though I'm sitting here at 4:36am writing this, when I should be asleep (I think I'm getting a cold, and can't sleep), I'm feeling suddenly good about it all again. That run last night really helped not only my legs, but my brain as well. Thanks Cheryl!