Disappointed, but proud of a young woman who had put her heart and soul into a dream that came within 8 seconds of being reality. As I look back I can say “what if”, what if in Myrtle Beach we didn’t have to run 11mls into a 14mph head wind, what if in Virginia Beach we didn’t have to run 7mls into 35mph wind gusts or what if she hadn’t got tripped and fallen, what if she had trained for Wineglass, (will come back to this one), what if she had people supporting her instead of putting her down. A lot of “what if” but if on any one of those occasions, had conditions been right, I’m sure Molly would have run a lot faster than 2:46. Wineglass was a slightly downhill marathon in Corning, New York on Oct. 2. This was a place I’m sure Molly could have run the time if she had trained for it, so let me explain from the end of August to the week after the race I stopped working with Molly. The reason, well, Molly had so much going on in her life that the training was not getting done and if you are not doing the training then you don’t need a coach.
So for six weeks Molly did not do a long run over 13mls but still ran a 2:48.22, yes another chance gone down the drain, but a real learning experience. The week following the race we sat down and talked about were the last chance was going to be, Molly looked at 5 different marathons and then we narrowed it down. Yes we did look at the possibility of running two more marathons in a year where she had already finished 3, one in November and then a final one in December if she did not get the time, but that idea went out the window when she told me how she had trained for Wineglass. So the plan was one last attempt but we also needed as much time as possible to get ready. We had 6 weeks between Wineglass and Kiawah which was enough time, but the down side was we then only had 4 weeks to the Trials if she made it. The goal was to make it first then worry about that.
So to Kiawah, 9 days out we did a workout 4x2mls, Molly ran the workout with great ease, and was in great shape, she was in better physical shape than she was for any of the other marathon. Race morning things were great. We were staying in Condo just 400m from the race start line, we headed to start line 40minutes before the start time, got to the elite tent put our bags down and went for a jog. The race started the opening mile was 6:10, then we settled into 6:17-6:20 pace, but at 6mls I could sense something was wrong but did not want to say anything. Then, at 8mls Molly came up beside me and said “it not going to happen” so we talked about what she wanted to do. At first she still wanted to finish but as the miles passed the best choice was to stop, so just short of 13 miles we stepped off the course.
So what went wrong? I could say the same thing that did in Houston back in January and also again in August when she stopped listening to her coach, the mental side or the stress that she has been dealing with all year or the non-support from people what should have been by her side.
Sometimes it makes no different how good of shape you are in, if the mind is not there, (guess what, we have a problem), when people say they support you and then turn their back on you the day before your last chance to make the trials, who need friends like that. Then to top thing off, when I left she had a driver, who then bailed and she drove herself down. So she arrived in Kiawah at 9pm after a 5 hour drive. So once again we could say an outside factor cost her, being Molly’s coach and a good friend I often wonder how she just did not quit with everything she was going through but I will use a quote that Molly has used “ Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but rising up each time we fail”.
- Emerson
So where do we go from here? The dream is on hold but new goals are being set. Some are short term and yes 2016 is a goal, but for now, it let sort out a few things, relax, have some fun and let’s get back at it in the NEW YEAR.
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