PUSHING THE LIMIT

I've run a lot of races this year, and if you look at the numbers, I'm at 41 with a distance of 890.1km, it might look scary. But if you know me and look at the times I've run, only a few stand out as if I had red lined it for most you the way... Yes I will always push to steal a top finish, but sometimes I look around and give up the chase knowing all to well had I am beat... (or have them beat). Running on the trails is very much like that and when you are racing for 4 hours it is really about running within yourself and hoping that your easy pace is faster than the next guys. Or the next guys isn't running easy and he falls apart!!!

On the road I run a lot of my races for fun, running with friends or as a training run looking for a time I know I can easily get.

A couple of weeks ago I raced a half, but I didn't kill myself from the gun, I have run to many races to make mistakes like that and after looking at the log book I know what my body would let me do, and while I was hurting at the end, and for days afterwards, I ran my time...

Now I'm looking for a 'fast' marathon (I could choose something easier than Winelands) and it scares me. A marathon is a long way, and while I know I could just knock off another sub 3 I want to go faster... 2h50, no even faster... I would like to break 2h40, something I haven't done since 2006.

The times I've run over the 10, 15 and half all say I can run that fast, but have a done enough training to last 42.2km, maybe I should run in miles, because then it would only be 26 of them!!! Coming off the back of a good half I know my speed is there and by all means getting the half way in 79 or even 78 should pose no problem, but what about the 2nd half...?

Like any good Coach I have drawn up a great program, but for one problem, it's only 4 weeks long and the 4th week is a taper week, that leaves me 3 weeks of training and half of that is gone already... So the question is... Am I on track? No, Yes, maybe... only race day will tell. The real question is: Am I scared enough? Do I remember just how much this can hurt if I hit the wall? Can I focus on training for 10 more days? Have I done enough the last 10+ days?