An "Old" New Approach

I believe that the year was 1993.  I was running in a nature preserve in Orange County, I had headphones on and was listening to music.  I took my headphones off, and just enjoyed the sounds of nature.  I never wore headphones again while running outdoors.  It was also a "long run," and somewhere around that time, the idea of running a marathon had become real to me.  I haven't actually thought about running a marathon in many years.  In fact, my last "open" marathon was in 2004, when I ran a marathon on a whim with a friend, who was doing his first marathon.

Two days ago, I completed what is called "Yasso 800's," which consist of ten consecutive 800m intervals.  The idea of the Yasso 800's is that one's average time for the interval accurately predicts one's open marathon time.  My average pace was 8:12 minutes/mile, which corresponds to 4:06 for the average time, and hence, a 4:06 marathon.  Considering that this is my first set of Yasso 800's, it's a good starting point if I were to choose to train for a marathon.  If I were to choose?  During my weekly call with my coach, he asked me, "are you thinking of doing a marathon?"  The thought hadn't crossed my mind, until that moment.  But, in that moment, it all made sense.  Running grounds me.  It's my form of meditation, just as I took off my headphones nearly thirty years ago and just let myself enjoy running.

I'm presently pulled in multiple directions.  I need to find a place to ground myself.  Ironman training is too diverse and broad.  Everything else just doesn't resonate.  5K training is fun, but something is missing.  Running nearly every day, with the goal of achieving a particular volume of running, makes sense.  It fills a void.  I've been resisting goals, but they can't resist me.  I'm a goal oriented person, but right now, I have too many goals.  I need to get back to where I was 3 1/2 months ago.  I need an "old" new approach.  It looks like I'll be training for a marathon.  Not that I'll actually race a marathon.  I'll come back to that concept in a few months.  In the meantime, I'll start training for one. Seems like a good way to get myself grounded again.