One Week Post-Pittsburgh; One Hour Pre-Apocalypse

I've run three ten kilometre runs since last Sunday's marathon in Pittsburgh, and all three runs have been at my maximum pace. Tomorrow will be a twenty kilometre run, and apart from my badly burnt legs (fell asleep in the sun on the beach today), I have little reason to believe this will be anything but a very satisfactory outing.

So I wonder if perhaps I should have (or still should) schedule more marathons for this year. After my surgery in late February, I was quite certain that two marathons would be more than sufficient for this year. Now, I know that I could easily fit one or more long distance races in and probably not be the worse for it.

The question is this: how many marathons is too many? At what point does the constant imminence of races become too dominant in occupying one's time? I enjoy the races themselves immensely in every way, so that's not an issue. The problem is this: am I a one trick pony? I do a lot of other things, but none with the consistency day-in day-out as running...

Our kids are both adults now. They have no children. My mother is so busy with volunteer work that she doesn't need or want any more time from us. My wife likes the travelling that we do in conjunction with this marathoning obsession. My work isn't compromised by the time I spend training and travelling.

But... should I be spending more time doing something else? Should I be broadening my horizons, finding some other hobbies or occupations? Maybe I should carpenter or scrapbook?

It's not a facetious question. I really do spend more time than usual lately wondering if I should be devoting more time to some other pursuit or pursuits. I don't mean expanding to triathlons or some such thing, since I don't swim very well or enjoy it enough to try.

I guess it's just that when one sees the constant improvement that happens over time if one commits to running  regularly, one begins to wonder what else could be achieved with that kind of regular, consistent approach.

What do you runners out there think? Do you have the same question about your own running life sometimes?