Thursday morning, Jennifer Ketchmark and I talked about what to expect in this weekend's ugly weatherforecast for The Flying Pig Marathon and all of the other events.
But in my eagerness to talk specifics, I totally missed the point. Sometimes I do that. Sorry.
WATCH: I talk rain, lightning and chafing prevention for the Flying Pig Marathon in the player below.
I've now run 11 marathons and seven half marathons. If there is one thing I have learned, it is that 26.2 miles is a fickle mistress. Run enough marathons and you will learn that you will have good races and bad races. And for me the beauty of the marathon is that there are so many factors that are outside of your control.
The number one factor is weather.
Outside of how well you train, I don't think there is any factor that affects your time more than the weather. Yet we have zero control over the weather.
I've run windy races, hot races, races in the low 30s, humid races (those are the absolute worst for me) and as mentioned in the video one race where tornado sirens started going off around mile six.
I've had fun in every one of those races. Even when there were excruciating moments (ahem, last year's Flying Pig...)
The important part — and this took me at least five marathons to learn — is to recognize that you can't control everything. All you can do is run your best and enjoy what you are doing.
So my most important message to everyone running this weekend is this:
Don't stress out about the weather. It will be what it will be. Just enjoy a fun weekend.
When your weekend race is over, you might not have the time you were originally hoping for. But you might have an even better story to tell.
