"And the winner is...."

Boston it will be.

Decision time for my Boston v Canberra dilemma came and went on Friday and I still couldn't quite make up my mind. I decided to wait and see how I pulled up from yesterday's long run before making the big D. I got through the run ok, all 27k's of it. The fact that I had to hobble for most of the rest of the day with this blasted adductor injury didn't worry me too much. I had got through a long run without too much discomfort and I am confident I can manage this thing up and until the marathon. The question was - just which marathon would it be?

In the end, the compelling logic in favour of Boston became too compelling. I read and listened to all the advice that came my way on-line and off-line. I thought if I passed up this opportunity there may not be many more. I'm not getting any younger, family finances could change, who knows what. I just didn't want to live with regrets. So even though it will be expensive and there were some important personal issues to consider, I felt I needed to do it. Call it destiny perhaps; I dunno.

I am going to do it for the experience. This injury has ruled out any chance of thinking about PB's. My preparations are already well behind and I am simply looking to get in some big long runs before the day, rather than worry about piling on big weekly k's.

Flights and accommodation have been booked. So it's Boston or bust!

Evil spirits lurking....

With my self-imposed Boston v Canberra drawing near (23 February), I have done myself no favours in the injury management department.

My right groin/abductor responded very well to physio I received earlier in the week and on Saturday I got through a nice 18k run with my Saturday group. I was feeling good and reasonably smug...but the evil spirits were lurking.

A couple of hours after my run I was watching darling daughter do her thing at Little Athletics. I hadn't done much post-run stretching and was standing around nice and tight when the announcement came for a parents' 200 metre race. I haven't raced a 200 since high school and I'm a distance runner, not a sprinter. But being a typical macho 45 year old male who thinks he has more testosterone than brains what do you think the chances were of me just standing there watching the other's dads give it a go? Not great.

So, tight and cold, I ran the 200 hard and finished up with one very sore adductor. It's feeling a little better after resting it yesterday and today and things will improve after I have more physio on it mid-week. But this is not the sort of environment I need at the moment. My marathon preps are behind schedule and I have one of the biggest decisions of my running life looming at the end of the week.

Decision pending....

I had another big weekend of running and one for which I am paying some costs. Saturday started with a 2 hour 20 minute effort, part of which I ran with buddies from my Saturday group over our favourite territory at Farrer and Isaacs. It was a good run, although hard work in stages and I battled with some nerve problems to my right glute. At one point a couple of ladies from our group had me on the ground going through contortions to stretch the nerve. What I was doing might have looked a bit kinky to outsiders but it was fun for me just the same.

The main event for the weekend, however, was the Sprint Marathon relay on Sunday. That saw sixty runners front up at Dunrossil Drive, a short distance from the Governor General's residence at Yarralumla, to battle it out in ten teams of six running a series of 1k relays over the marathon distance. The event has been going for about 12 years, and in recent years has been organised by Canberra running identity, Jim White. Jim sorts out the teams and allocates runners so that each team has a spread of runners from those capable of about 3.30 to 4.00 minute per k up to those of around the 7.00 minute standard.

I was fortunate enough to find myself as the only guy in a team of wonderful lady runners. There was Natasha and Beryl from my Saturday group, along with Strewth, Helen, and Barbara from ACT Vets. Except for Barbara, I had met them all before and I liked them all. We didn't get a podium finish but that didn't matter. We had a great team, it was a wonderful morning of morning, and it was fun. It was a privilege for me to run with these ladies.

I caught up with many other friends on Sunday from my Saturday group and elsewhere, not least Flashduck, PRB, Griffin, Friar, and others. Speedy Geoff was there, not part of the official action but using the area for a training run. My running buddy Michelle was in another team. I know she had a good day too.

The cost from Saturday's long run and Sunday's intense effort was that I have aggravated some slowly developing problems with my right abductor. I was at the physio today and will need to reduce my workload just as I need to be increasing it for my marathon plans in April.

These niggles add yet another piece to the jigsaw of my Boston v Canberra conundrum. I have given myself just over another week to resolve all the various issues. Friday 23 February is D-Day!

Undecided!

I don't know how to thank you, my friends, for the wonderful comments that were left on my previous post, Canberra v Boston. I was totally overwhelmed not just by the number of responses but also by their substantive and thoughtful nature. Many of you wrote things which have left me pondering much about my running, my family, and about life.

I know that all of us have to balance the demands of our love for running with our love for family and other things. It is so easy to lose sight of what is, deep down, important to us. I am not a perfect father, nor a perfect husband, or a perfect runner. Yet I try to be all three and then suffer the inevitabe tensions and conflicts that emerge when the train tracks all don't go in the same direction.

I remain undecided whether I will run Boston or not. There is a compelling logic in favour of Boston which many of you have pointed out. But I just feel I am not ready to make the final plunge yet. Meanwhile I will continue with my training. I am also under pressure at work and am just about to leave on another overseas work trip and several more are in the pipeline between now and Boston. Maybe in my travels I will also seek guidance from the Delphic Oracle, or Paris Hilton, or the Pope or someone. Don't think any of them, though, have any where near the levels of wisdom that you, my incredible friends in Blogland, have in spades.

My entrance application for Boston as been accepted and time is running out. I am yet to make my flight bookings and will need to make a decision soon....