• Training isn’t the only challenge •
[1½ MIN READ]
Here we are in another spring marathon season. This time it’s the Delaware (Running Festival) Marathon on Sunday, 4/6, just 2 weeks away. Expectations are…tempered. Those who pay attention to this-here thought piece, Ruminations, know that I don’t get motivated the way I did when I first started running, unless friends are involved. Two years ago, Too Hot Tom got me fired up to do Coastal Delaware (Running Festival) Marathon (Rumination). His appeal for someone to drive to Rehoboth Beach with was exactly the motivation I needed to register. Voilà, friend. Last spring it was GGR buds who were racing that got me motivated (About). I trained and drove with them for 2 different marathons and my first trail race, a 25K (Ruminations).
This year posed the problem again. I wasn’t seeing a race that appealed to me. Where’s another friend when you need one? Guess what? You can make them. Enter next-street-over-neighbor Mark whom I met a couple of years ago while I was walking my dog and while he was waiting with his kids at the bus stop. He struck up a conversation back then by asking about my running because he often saw me on the road. During a conversation this January, he mentioned his plan to run Delaware. My question went something like this: “Heeeey, do you need a new rudder bunny? (Wikipedia)” “Why yes, yes, I do.” Something like that. And so, friends we became. He can’t make SRC runs usually because of kids’ sports. Between that and other weekend plans, I’ve had to miss some myself. But a few weekday runs have worked out; and now, after some 10 hours of running together, we have actually gotten pretty friendly. Neither of us is breaking any records, but we’re getting out the door and racing.
As a result of this friending and training effort, my 13-year spring-marathon streak will go on. This also raises prospects for future spring races; make more new friends or find more from among the ones I already have who are tracking like me for another suitable spring marathon. The challenge continues…training and racing.
-CtCloser (Calvinthe) “Negative Split or Positive Splat” #dothedue
FINE PRINT ¶Text by Calvin Wang (Wäng), CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. ¶Cross-published: Facebook Shawmont Running Club (ZY Weekly Newsletter 3/15/25), Shawmont Running Club website, Ruminations by CtCloser. ¶This website posting: Rumination only with added caption.
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