Heh....I just liked the title here. Anyway, I've been thinking a lot about marathons lately...which I think is one reason why I tend to run them so poorly. I know there has been lots of talk with Candice about "tweeking" out before races....well my friends, I think i'm the king of "tweeking" out on marathon race morning. Now, I don't seem to tweek out so bad before other races, just marathons. So I came to the conclusion that maybe that is because I only do about 1 marathon a year, and I put "all my eggs in one basket". So I feel like it's an all or nothing situation. That's a lot of pressure! (At least for me) So, my new thought is that maybe I should take a page from Trent (holy shit, I actually said that), Casa, and JK...and run a few other marathons. Maybe if I go into one without it being a 'goal' marathon, it will help me relax when I do come to my goal marathon. Anyway, the point of all this is to say that I'm now planning on running the Greenway Marathon, Lousiville, and the Monkey in a 2 months span. Good idea? Bad idea? What would swamp mom say?! I'd love to hear thoughts from those mentioned above...and others.

If you do that, the Greenway marathon will need to become your goal, with Louisville as a backup. And this: great idea! And this: stress fractures are fun

No, Greenway will not be my goal. I'm going to try and run that easy...and if it's a crappy day I'll DNF and get in a good long run for Lousiville. Lousiville will be my goal race....but I'm not going to worry about a BQ. I'm just going to try and run it harder then Greenway. The Monkey will be whatever it is. I'm making no plans for that one, except to finish it.

I guess it just depends on your goal. If your goal is to tweak less by doing more, than run all three. If your goal is to run one well, then just do one. But you WILL tweak more if you focus on running one well...Because you won't have the, "Well, I'm just a crazy guy running 3 marathons in four weeks!" excuse.

No, Greenway will not be my goal. I'm going to try and run that easy...and if it's a crappy day I'll DNF and get in a good long run for Lousiville.

So, basically, you're going to pull a Gordon. Quit tweaking and man up.

Define: tweak. It is not having 3 marathons that helps you. It is having a backup marathon that helps you. If Louisville is your goal, then any marathon before that will do nothing to relieve your stress. Having one a few weeks later as a backup allows you to drop out of the first one knowing that you can always shoot again.

Yeah, I should have referenced this good advice from the tweaker defined as the guy who runs one million marathons so that he doesn't have to run one. Modified to add: great thread title, by the way.

So, basically, you're going to pull a Gordon. Quit tweaking and man up.

1. Gordon did it at PWP, that will beat you up. 2. Easier said then done.

The thing is, a non-tweaking marathon bears little resemblance to a tweaking marathon. The one doesn't prepare you for the other. It's like kissing your sister. It ain't nothing like the real thing.

Well, while i'm not like Casa or Trent or JK....I know that after St. Louis, I didn't even care anymore. I woke up 3 weeks later and ran CMM. I ran well at CMM because there was nothing left to tweak about.

Yeah, but you ran hard at St. Louis. That's the point.