September: Racer

   You can resist the temptation of joining a religious cult or a career in knocking over liquor stores - at least you tell yourself so. But a racing registration form is such a guileless seduction, such a win-win bargain. Regardless of the event, you can aim for any number of goals in a single contest, all of them determined by your own fevered imagination. Besides, if it turns out that you don't like racing, you can simply walk away, lesson learned.

   This is essentially what Napoleon thought about Russia. To be sure, there's a lot to gain from competition, especially from the focus and organization it brings to your training. The calendar imposes a date; all effort is directed toward the crack of the starting gun. Gone are the flatliner workouts you plod through from some dutiful goal of fitness or weight loss. Racing puts a snap in your step. It thrills the heart by forcing you to look at tangible improvement.

   And then what? The workouts to worry about aren't those that lead up to a race, but those that follow. Racing enthusiasm usually collapses the day after an event, especially after a long-distance race such as a marathon. This is where many running programs perish. Experienced racers fill their calendars with multiple events, knowing that many of these will be scratched, but also knowing that any single race is not a crusade; multiple events make disappointments easier to take. They also keep training programs alive by spreading goals across the year, allowing them to evolve. First-timers should plan to train down to very easy workouts for the two weeks following a race, until everything heals. But it's important to begin building back toward a goal soon afterward.

   Should that goal be another race? The question may not provoke an identity crisis, but it invites healthy reflection. Each year, millions of runners become hooked on competition after exactly one race, bringing with them no more ambition than simply to cross the finish line again and again. The tribal energy of racing - the shared enthusiasm - supplies all the motivation these runners need to keep their training programs delivering results. Racing throws doors open. It makes public a very private part of who you are.

   Trouble lies where more ambitious goals are at stake. Obviously, you can't set a personal record with each event; you will ultimately run into the wall of your own abilities. You must also confront age. The marvelous fact about running is that there are competitive events for every age and ability imaginable. Still, the initial thrills of crowds, concentrated effort, and successive victories eventually subside. Too often these take the love of running with them. You need only look at the high school track star who's morphed into a middle-aged pear to see the dangers of loving competition too much.

   The secret to racing is in keeping the love of training alive. As your goals and expectations change, your daily workouts are the constant that will sustain you even after humiliating defeats, after you've had to face cruel truths about your abilities. In fact, the real secret about racing is that training is as sweet as any victory.