Why Retiring from Marathons Has Me Down

I'm in a funk.

Normally, this time of the year puts me into something known as seasonal blues.  Gray skies for days at a time, cold temperatures, kids getting sick, it all just gets me a bit down.

This year seems to be a little different though.  I certainly can feel that I'm not as chipper as I am when the weather is beautiful but there is another factor in play here.  I think I am mourning the end of a season in my life. 

That seems reasonable, what season is that? 

Well, I am done with running marathons.  What's the big deal you ask?  I wish I knew.  I've only run 4 of them, it's not like I've done all that many.

I have so many reasons why I need to be done running marathons.  The biggest is the time commitment.  I am a wife, mom, daughter, friend, employee and volunteer.  I'm sure there are more that I'm just not thinking of right now.  Anyway, these are all very important roles in my life and they all deserve to be a priority.  I have a very full life and I love it.  The time that it takes to train for a marathon is considerable.  I just don't have that much time to give and I don't want to do it if I can't give it the effort it deserves.

Another reason is that I really need to focus on weight loss.  Even 20lbs would have a huge impact on my speed.  I just can't seem to focus on weight loss when I'm training.  I need to take some time to strengthen other parts of my body besides my legs and I need to find my motivation and self control again.

Reasons 3 and 4?  Running that far hurts and it's lonely.  Yes, I know they are lame reasons but it's true.  Spending hours upon hours running alone isn't fun.  The race is fun and is a reward for all the hard work you put in leading up to it but the training stinks.  My long run days literally ruin almost an entire day in the week.  There are only 7 days in a week and when 1 of them is lost to running, it's a huge impact.  I'm so slow that it takes many, many hours to run (my long runs of 20-22 miles take me up to 5-6 hours and that's not including the time it takes to get ready or the time it takes to recover) and by the end, I can hardly move I'm so sore and let's not talk about my energy levels after I finish.  I have no energy to do anything except sit on the couch with my feet up.  I'm not sure it's worth it.

So there you go.  I've laid out all of my excuses reasons why I'm done.  After reading this, I can't imagine why anyone would want to run 26.2 miles.  I certainly haven't made it sound all that great so why am I so sad?  I'm still trying to figure that part out.

Stay tuned...