The Second is Harder

During my 5.2 this morning, I began seriously considering whether to attempt another marathon. No conclusions yet as to that ultimate question, but I do think that making the decision to pursue the second may be much harder than the first. With the first, most of the experience is hypothetical--no real experience at the kind of distances in training or the time and energy involved to do it right. With the second, all of that is very real. I know how much time it will take. I know how I feel after the really long runs. I know some of the inconvenience that my training was to the rest of the family. Do I want to go through all of that again? More details later.

Sometimes I wonder what happens to some people whose faith seemed dynamic in college, but seems pretty ordinary afterwards. I wonder if now that they know what it takes to live a dynamic faith, it doesn't seem worth the effort to stay there--or to try to get there again. Or perhaps what seemed dynamic in earlier years no longer feels so dynamic because they have been there before. Perhaps their faith is every bit as strong as ever, but they just don't see it that way. After all, once you've run 8 - 10 miles pretty consistently, 3.5 doesn't seem like much.