My first real "no"

I'm not sure exactly what I was thinking, but someone had mentioned the Niagara Falls International Marathon to me the other day in passing. I got to thinking (which is always dangerous for me) that maybe I could do the half marathon at that event on Oct. 26.

I emailed my coach and asked her if I could do it.

"I'm going to say no to this one," she replied.

What?

This is the coach who had never said no to me ever. The only other time she kept me on the sideline was when I wanted to run the St. Gregory the Great Great Race in June. I was having some knee pain so she wanted me to rest instead.

I then asked about a few races in October.

No to those, too.

Welcome to the official end of my first season of racing.

My coach put the kibosh on those races for very solid reasons. First, she didn't want me to risk injury. We threw that half marathon in at the last minute because I had the fitness to do it -- not because I trained for it.

I'm in rest and recovery mode right now and there's no need to push the limits, to risk an injury which might sideline me.

Because apparently we have some work to do. Which leads us to the second reason -- becoming more deliberate in my training and racing.

This season was about experience. Sure, throw me in a race! I needed the practice. I needed to know what it felt like to line up for a run with nerves and anxiety. I needed to practice learning how to relax in a crowd of people. I needed to get in and get dirty.

But now, it's about more structure than experience. It's about setting different kinds of goals. I'm pretty sure that my first A race will be the Buffalo Marathon in May. And in order to prepare for that, there has to be a plan and races which fit into that plan.

And while I've got plenty of time to prepare and build my distance base, the time has to be well-spent and a bit deliberate.

I recall that line from the end of the movie All The President's Men where Ben Bradley tells Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein to to go home, take a bath and rest up for 15 minutes. Then they had to get their butts back in the office and back to work.

Without the implications to the Constitution of the United States and a free press, I feel a similar mandate from my coach: Rest up these two off weeks. Because then we're back to work. Hard.

I'm actually looking forward to it.