It has been just over two weeks since I completed #ChicagoMarathon Virtual Race Experience Week. In the midst of my crazy work, homeschooling and business schedules, I have managed to begin a fresh training cycle with my group in preparation for #BahamasRoadmasters Virtual Half Marathon and 10K race next month.
We are approaching the end of the calendar year. Usually this is a time of race excitement. #BahamasHalf and #ExumaMarathon approaching and the streets are filled with runners training for their big days. Flights and race expos. Instead we are faced with what is now becoming a common reality. With the recent announcements of #MiamiMarathon and #MarathonBahamas converting to virtual races and #BahamasRaceForTheCure being cancelled, certain questions come to mind:
How do we stay focused and motivated to keep running?
For runners who are tackling race distances for the first time, is there a sense of being "robbed" of the actual race experience?
There are no neat and tidy answers to these questions. While I believe that ultimately focus and motivation rest with the runner, now is definitely a great time to align with like-minded athletes who are equally invested in maintaining a consistent run routine. What a time to lean on my favorite run quote: "If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together." When you add in the element of being on lockdown due to Covid 19 surges, keeping the group focused and motivated requires consistent work. It requires checking in with the group daily; touching bases on what works well for those staying on top of the schedule and finding solutions for those who are struggling with mileage requirements. We do it. Together. That is what Run Naturally is all about.
I must admit, I could not see myself training for a new race distance in this Covid 19 environment. I am one who plans vacation around my fall races. The thought of presenting the notion to my group of participating in their first long distance race under such unconventional circumstances gave me pause. I was fresh off of my first virtual marathon and was not inclined to participate in another. In spite of that fact, I must also admit that completing #ChicagoMarathon virtually gave me a different perspective on what our immediate futures in road racing should feel like.
Instead of feeling cheated, I thought about how truly bad ass it is to do something you have never done without all of the amenities that in-person races have to offer. Our immediate future in road racing looks like one where we write a different race strategy. One where we rely on, now more than ever, the support of our families and friends. During the course of an in-person race, we do not have the luxury of our families, friends and coaches running along side us, standing at the finish line tapes to create that personalized experience we will never see in a crowd of forty thousand other runners. In our road racing futures, we are the elites. We have the crowd support. We cross the finish line with our group of twenty as proud and strong as we would in a group of two hundred and twenty.
We have lost nothing. The spotlight is on us. The spotlight is for us. The journey is always ours to write. And the end result is the same: One runner. One mission. Accomplished.
#RunNaturally #inspiretherunner #racedistancetraining #bahamashalf #miamimarathon #marathonbahamas #raceforthecure #virtualraces #roadracing #halfmarathontraining #focus #motivation
