There comes a time in every effort where the piper must be paid. There are a great many dependent factors, but the one constant is that the piper must be paid. Sometimes it's a small price. Other times the price is huge. Sometimes it's "six months same as cash." And other times it's "cash on delivery."
Obviously, there was a price to pay for my running of the Green Bay Marathon. It seems I paid the price ahead of time using funds borrowed from a loan shark. And he wants HIS payment.
The circumstances surrounding many of the marathons I've completed tend to raise the bar. In 2005, I ran the Chicago Marathon after a night of fighting a fever of about 102F. That race had to be completed because I was running it for a friend who was a cancer survivor. Her attempt to complete a marathon was sidelined after she was diagnosed with a second bout of cancer. I had promised to "carry" her through a marathon and refused to let anything derail that effort.
Like this year, last year's Green Bay race was in support of a co-worker completing his first marathon. The conditions made things challenging, and again the situation made failure unacceptable. I put up with the cold and he finished the race.
This year I was faced with the first real "scare" of my marathon career. I went to bed early Saturday with both a severe cough and very sore lower back. And for the first time ever, I stood at the start line and told my running partner there was a chance I would fail to finish the course. Only time on the course would determine the outcome.
After several miles, I knew things were loosening up, and the occassional back spasm wasn't enough to take me out of the race. In the end, the desire to see my co-worker through the race was again enough motivation to finish. And he had an excess of motivation that allowed us to finish with the times we did.
Today, I'm working off the debt to that loan shark. For example, who knows how many back muscles are used to cough? Well, I can answer that question. ALL OF THEM. I imagine it would be quite a hoot to watch me trying to suppress a cough (because it hurts) until I can wriggle my way out of bed (which also hurts) so that I can stand up (which reduces both the need to cough AND the actual pain of coughing).
Luckily, the actual days are okay once I get stretched out. I swam a quick 800 yards this morning, and things went fairly well. In honor of the loan SHARK, I'll stay in the pool for a few days (weeks) and give my back a chance to recover.
At some point, I might even make one payment through a massage therapist. Another first at the marathon Sunday was to hit the massage tent at the finish line. If they can make such a difference there, it might pay to see a massage therapist with the goal of loosening up everything that has my back in knots. Just another way to pay the piper.
And once I get closer to 100%, I can start to make deposits toward the half-Ironman I have coming in a few short months. Because I'd rather make that one "pay as you go."
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