After much anguish, I've decided not to run the Boston Marathon. Instead I will be running the Seaton Trail 52k Trail Run, in Pickering, relatively close to my house.
I feel a bit funny about my decision. I've told so many people I was going to Boston. Now I'm going to have to explain that I chose not to go. At some point I realized that I was going there to race for others, not for myself. The hard part about Boston is to qualify, not the race itself and I've done that. I know I can do it again.
How did this happen? I was so excited about running the Boston Marathon. How did it come to this? I think my main reason is that since my A race is the Sulphur Springs 50 miler, running Boston slowly as a training run just didn't make any sense physically, emotionally and financially. Physically because I would have to drive 600 miles to Boston, race, and then drive back. Emotionally because I would have had to run it as a training run and that would have been a waste. Financially because even with driving instead of flying, the expense of the whole family staying in Boston for 3 days for a training run would have been substantial.
The fact is, I need to run more trails and switching to a trail race makes a lot more sense. Also, I really enjoy trail races. People are friendly both before, during and after the race. There's not much chit-chat during your typical road race, while in a trail ultra, people who know they will be sharing 5 or 6 hours of pain are quite a bit more talkative, if only to make the time pass a bit faster!
So my hotel is canceled. I'm registered for the Seaton Trail race. I feel good about this. I'm excited again.
