Tuesday is rest day.  No running on Tuesdays.  God….I just love Tuesdays!!

LOL. Ok….I really DO like running.  Stop laughing.  But running is hard work.  It’s like a second job to train for a race like a Marathon or Half Marathon.  So, it’s easy to come to adore Rest days.   Ahhhh.  Truthfully though, sometimes it can be hard to rest.  I mean.  There IT is.  Tacked to my cork bulletin board in the kitchen.  You know, …. IT.  The Schedule.  Alllllll 20 weeks of it.  Day by Day.  Listed out one day at a time.  Miles, and miles, and then, more miles.   On running days, I let myself think about Race Day while I am running.  The simple act of running helps me release my tension and anxiety and my nerves.  Mostly I’m nervous about the “not knowing”.  Not knowing just how hard it will be, just how faaaarrr 26.2 miles will feel, just how tired I will feel doing it.  But…you know what?  There is only ONE way to KNOW something….and that is by DOING it.  So.  Moving Forward.

On Rest Days, thinking about Race Day is much harder.  There’s no running to help me release the tension.  Nope.  No matter how tempting it might be.  No matter how much I feel like a race horse pent-up in the barn (HA, me….a race horse!  HA!)…..no matter ….No running.   Resting is important.  So on Rest Days, I let myself think about Race Day once a day.  Sometimes I do this through a long over due chat with my coach….Marathon Brian.  That was today!  Here we go….!

“So….How’s it Going?”   That’s how it always starts.  He has such eager anticipation for my experience.  In the beginning, I felt like I was bothering him to call him, with all my questions – big and small.  But He straightened me out pretty quickly, and I have come to realize that he really enjoys coaching me.  He seems to enjoy my successes (big and small) almost as much as he enjoys his own.  This realization has meant the world to me, and has taught me a real lesson in friendship and the meaning of generosity.  Some people are generous with their time, and he is.  But Marathon Brian is also generous with his spirit.  I’m lucky.  He’s training for his own race on September 30th. A Half Ironman, or a Half GodMan, something like that.  A mega triathlon, with an insanely long bike ride, followed by a crazy swim, and oh….then a half marathon just in case you have an ounce of energy left.  We can’t have THAT now can we?

“So….How’s it Going?”  I told him that I feel soft.  Weaker.  Like I’d lost some of my edge.  He assured me that it’s my mind, being mean to me.  It’s making me pay the mental price for taking some time off from running.  “It’s still in there, don’t worry.”  Hmmm, Ok. Those words have been hanging around my brain the whole rest of the day.  It’s still in there Diane.  It is.  Believe.

I told him….OK.  I want to put this on the table.  So I say it.  And then it’s out there.  [DeepBreath].  I said, “I have no doubt I will finish.  But.  [damn But]…. But, I’ve been looking at the Run/Walk training progra……”

“Don’t!”

Before I completed my sentence….that one word leaped out of his mouth.  What came next was a candid conversation about walking, and how the power of the mind could help me get past that “need to walk” feeling, and help me “flip the switch”   Huh?  Yeah, me too.  “Huh, Marathon Brian?”  Explain to us, Oh Running Yoda!!

Run slower.

Run slower?

Yeah, run slower.  He told me to run sooo slow, that I could probably walk faster than I was running.  He wants me to run at a pace…where I could run, well… forever.

Hmmm……

He said, “my mission was to forget about pace, and teach my mind that I can run (slowly) for as long as I want.”  Hmmm.  It kinda made sense, because I can go out and walk for a really really long time.  So….if I can walk for miles and not mind….then why can’t I run (even slower)….for a really long time?  It’s mental.  I need to teach myself that I can do it…..and at some point, I will “flip the switch“….and be able to run at that slow pace, for as long as I need.

It SOUNDS great.

Now I gotta go and make it happen!

That was Marathon Brian’s last piece of advice.  “Hey, you have two weeks before the 18 week Marathon plan starts.  Use those two weeks and “flip the switch”. “

Uh.  Er.  Ok.

So – he gave me homework.  Homework!  Marathon Brian gave me HOMEWORK, on a Rest Day!!  He told me to get out there tomorrow morning, and do just 2 miles.  But NO Stopping.  NONE.  NO.  NO Stopping.

Flip the Switch.  Flip the Switch.

Why do I think I’m going to be dreaming about light switches tonight…..oh boy.  Here we go!

Ciao for now……Diane