A day to reflect

I've had some time to reflect on the race yesterday. In a way, I was somewhat irrational by registering for Philly less than 3 hours after finishing Boston. Don't get me wrong, I'm thrilled that I am going back there, but I need to avoid making huge decisions based entirely on emotion. I also have already reconsidered my statement saying that I am not sure if I'd return to Boston anytime soon. Not saying I'll definitely do it (my 2:56:39 still qualifies me for 2nd registration period), but I shouldn't say that I won't do it. We'll see.

I should never forget where I came from. This is what I looked like in 2006:



This is what I looked like yesterday:



It's 45 pounds less (and about 15% less hair). I guess there is a big disappointment that still exists. I put a lot into this, and it didn't work out. But I got to remember where I came from. A stressed out overweight dude. The 2006 me would have been excited to know I did what I did today.

As for the 2011 version of me, he is very hungry. I was a 3:56:56 marathoner and I took off more than an hour off that time in 2 1/2 years. If I am going to be a 2:30 marathoner or better, I'm going to need to drop another 20 pounds, improve the core, and train my body to add more mileage. I'm going to need to be quicker on the track, I'm going to need to train more. I'm also going to need to put yesterday behind me, but to still be proud about one thing I had and usually always have - toughness.

As for the next few months, I am taking this week off entirely from running. I will run a couple Grand Prix races like the Medical Center 6K and the Rhody 5K while working on my speed for shorter distances. I plan on running a couple small local races and hopefully earn a cheap win. :) Yeah, I'm shameless. Also in July will be the Stowe 8 Miler and the Yankee Homecoming 10 Miler.

One thing that I'd really like to work on too is helping to get the Sisu Project to grow. We are a small team, but we represent a lot of things that are hard to come by. I don't know, maybe it's because we favor juice parties over bar hanging. Our annual trip to Vermont is amazing, our events are always a great time, but we need some better race exposure and hopefully attract some runnahs. The potential is there...just gotta work at it!