planning, perhaps

I never ran with a specific race in mind. I never followed a training schedule. I just went out there and ran, with one thing on my mind: to run, to run farther, to ran faster.

I said I would run my marathon when I am ready. And since it was clear I would not be ready this spring, I thought I would run it in fall, perhaps the New Mexico Marathon Plus in September. Last year I did the half.

Lately through... I am getting impatient. I don't want to wait anymore. If I push hard I might be ready in May or June. I believe New Mexico is too hot to run a marathon in early summer, but I have learned something else in the meantime - one can travel to another place, run a race elsewhere, there are plenty of races to choose from. It took me some time to make this mental jump. Okay, so I am slow.

So now... my mind is roaming... could I push, how would I plan, where should I go? It's not that I want to travel to another city. It's not that I want to run my first marathon at a lower altitude, I'd rather do it here, in the desert I know. It's the restlessness in me, the need for space conquered, the hunger for miles.