That old anticlimatic feeling

A friend of mine just finished her first half-marathon. She experienced that same training eupohoria that anyone new to endurance sports feels. Every week in training as the miles go higher and higher there is a new accomplishment--"8 miles, that's the farthest I've run in my lifetime". A few weeks later, "10 miles, that's the farthest I've run in my lifetime", and so on.

She asked me what drives me to compete, particularly in the long-course events. I had to break the news to her. We spend months training for these incredible distances that most people would not even consider. Every week there is a new achievement and we glow in its accomplishment. Eventually, comes race day, and for most of us this is the penultimate accomplishment but where is the glow? There is no greater feeling then crossing the finish line in an event and particularly one where at the beginning you are not sure that you will ever see. However, after you cross that line everything that comes afterward is anticlimatic. Unless you have your next challenge or race in the near future, you are lost after crossing the finish line.

On September 17, when I cross the finish line in Cancun I know what is waiting for me. I have no other events this year and while I look forward to the rest, recovery, and rebuild, I will face that sense of loss and sadness. Getting there is indeed more than half the fun.