The Little White Angel Rejoices!

I made up my mind late this week – I am definitely signing up for the half marathon in Tennessee, not the full again. I have been leaning that way for the last couple of weeks, even though I had been more or less sticking to the training schedule for the full 26.2. In fact, I trained more than the half marathon in Charlottesville a few weeks ago, so now it is just a matter of improving my fitness level to finish as fast as I can.

I’ve not chatted with the white angel or the red devil since we had that discussion some time back. But I am guessing that the angel is pretty happy. In fact, when I made the decision, I thought I heard the faint, almost imperceptible, sound of a harp playing “We Will Rock You!” followed by “We Are the Champions!” I don’t want to talk to the little red devil because he would just give me a bunch of grief. But the decision is made!

Thanks for all who took my poll. 37 people answered the poll, and 36 of them said they would not be let down if I do the half and not the full. That is nearly 97%! If a lot of donors had said otherwise, it would have had to factor into my decision.

By shifting to the half marathon, I can focus on fundraising for the next nine weeks. I can still train hard but it is a matter of staying in half-marathon shape and avoiding injury, instead of pushing myself harder each week as the miles pile up. I can get a little more sleep, which also helps with the fundraising because I can work a little later on that at times. I can focus on helping my mentees get closer to their fund-raising goal. I won’t be as wiped out on weekends during training. And I can enjoy the race weekend a little more. Part of that experience is staying at the finish of the half if any teammates come in after me to cheer them on, and then hopefully getting over to the finish line of the full to cheer on my teammates doing 26.2.

I know that there is a chance that I might feel a little let-down on race day not getting that fourth 26.2 pin, but the TNT 13.1 pin will still look good on my hat. I feel strongly that I will do a marathon again – I hope I have the legs for several more ahead. I’d also like to do a triathlon some day soon and maybe even a century. But this spring, I am going to just try to be at peace with my decision and enjoy becoming a half-marathoner in addition to a three time marathoner. I am going to enjoy being one of the purple people once again, for whether 13.1 or 26.2, that is why I do this – to make a small difference in the battle against cancers.

13.1 or 26.2, triathlon or century ride – everyone doing Team in Training does four things: we Train, we Endure, we Achieve, and we Matter!