Approaching Marathons #39 and 40

Being an athlete can be tough sometimes. Competing in marathons can be compared to being a boxer. In both of these sports one trains and alters their life for that one day in the spotlight, however you can never be prepared for what can happen on that particular day.
I have been taught this lesson many times the most recent being the 2007 Boston Marathon. This was my 38th career marathon and my 13th time in Boston. I trained very hard for this race, and probably was in the top shape of my life.. All this preparation went out the window when a freak nor’easter storm hit New England on the race day. Although I finished the race and raised money for a very worthy charity it was one of my worst times in years. Following this race I had to take time off to heal a couple of small injuries and get back to a positive state of mind. Having a bad marathon is kind of like losing a title fight. You are constantly asking yourself how you could have competed better or performed at a higher level, but sooner or later you have to shake it off and get back on track.
After Boston I have only competed in two small road races although I have been training daily, however at the beginning of this week I took my training to a whole new level. I have just begun preparing to compete in both the Breakers Marathon in Newport, R.I. on October 20th, and the New York Marathon on November 4th. I have been competing in marathons now for almost 14 years and each year it gets harder and harder to get into a regiment that will prepare me to go 26.2 miles. This year I think it will be easier than most years because I have a motivational factor to enter both of these races.
In the Breakers Marathon I’ll be running and raising money for the Ronald McDonald House. Running for a charity really makes you motivated to get out there and train and do your best on race day. When I compete in New York I have another reason to excel. I will once again be racing an athlete who competes the same way I do, going backwards using his legs. If there’s any better feeling than raising money for charity it is beating a long-time rival. On November 4th this is what I plan to do.
After competing in two local road races over the next couple of weeks I will return to training in my hometown of West Warwick and hopefully prepare my body to take whatever is thrown at me.
If everything goes like I plan, on November 5th when I wake up in New York City I will have completed 40 career marathons. This will leave me only ten shy of my goal of finishing 50 marathons, so if you see me training beep your horn and cheer me on. I appreciate all the encouragement I have gotten from the people of Rhode Island.

-Jason Pisano