5.01k in 38.53
126 days remaining
Everything feels different now. The clocks went back this morning and the autumn rains have arrived. I spent three hours of a candlelit evening yesterday creating a comprehensive training plan for a race I’m not even sure I’m running yet.
The 10th annual Antalya marathon is on 1 March. That’s eighteen weeks from today. For someone who is allegedly only sort-of considering the race, I’ve been spending a lot of time and energy thinking about it, planning for it, and, as of this morning, training.
My reservations about committing aren’t connected to the race itself— a 42k isn’t easy, but it’s pretty straightforward. What’s tricky is the scheduling. I have a lot of other things I want to get done between now and March, some of which are non-negotiable. I also have some international travel in the weeks leading up to the race. It’s complicated. Part of yesterday’s brainstorming session involved working out a detailed schedule that would theoretically allow for everything else I want to do, while still having time to train for a race of that calibre.
The next two or three weeks are key. By then I’ll have had a long enough trial period with the new schedule to see whether things are going to work out for the marathon this year. At the moment, I wouldn’t advise you to put money on either outcome.
But let’s be honest, it’s probably going to happen.
Eighteen weeks. 126 days.