I saw this quote on Saturday, on the back of the shirt of a girl I "chased" throughout my race on Saturday. I thought about it a lot as I was running (plodding) up those killer hills, grasping for breath and watching everyone run past me with lightening speed. I was still getting over my illness and struggled with this run from the very beginning. With an aching knee, burning quads, screaming hamstrings and a throbbing toe blister, I was pretty sure I knew the meaning of pain rather well at that point. So why do I do it? Why put myself through the pain? Because "proud" doesn’t even begin to describe the feeling you get at the end of a race. Elation, euphoria, pleasure, happiness, excitement, satisfaction…getting a little closer. And if I felt that good at the end of a 12 mile race…just imagine the finish line of the marathon…the culmination of months and months of training. Bring it on!!
And so the quest towards marathon continues. All in all, it was a good week. I ran a total of 27 miles, with 5 runs, three of them outside and away from the dreadmill. On Monday I took Mally with me on my run. That dog is so fast!! I’m usually reluctant to take her with me because she’s much more interested in chasing squirrels and barking at passing cars than paying attention to speed, splits and heart-rate. But she did well and seemed so incredibly happy afterwards that I’m going to have to start taking her more often. I downloaded a new book from iTunes for my treadmill running (Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert), in an attempt to keep myself motivated despite the boredom. And I finally feel like I may be kicking this illness once and for all (knock on wood). Today is the first day my lymph nodes haven’t felt like the size of softballs in my neck.
I also celebrated my 29th birthday this week with the best friends a person could ask for. You guys are the BEST!!! I was so incredibly surprised with an unexpected birthday celebration with my bestest and closest friends. Bowling, beer and birthday cake…what more could a girl want? A big fat huge THANK YOU to Kasey, Jacquie, Heather, Kirsten, Julie and Ryan for everything! I am truly blessed...my cup runneth over! 
Weekly recap:
Sunday: 4.1 miles
Monday: 3.3
Thursday: 5.2
Friday: 2.0
Saturday: 12.4
Monday: 3.3
Thursday: 5.2
Friday: 2.0
Saturday: 12.4
Total: 27.0 miles
Woot, 29...last year in your AG! I enter a new one next month...35-39...I'm feeling OLD!
ReplyDelete;)
Hey, which marathon are you looking towards? Wouldn't it be fun to do one together someday? I'd love to try a few different midwest ones...assuming that the first one in Grand Rapids this Fall doesn't kill me!
:D
k
I'm SO incredibly slow that my age group won't matter...the only people I beat in my last race were a handful of walkers and senior citizens!!
ReplyDeleteI'm running the St. Louis Marathon in April. And YES, it would be a blast to run one together, although you're MUCH faster than me. Assuming I make it through this one, I have a couple others (or even halves) in mind for the fall. Grand Rapids could be a possibility!!
Nice job capturing the "why" of all this running insanity, Sara. Glad that you are finally feeling better. Looked like a good week of training and, slow or not (like me), you did a great job in your race! I'm planning on doing at least the half in Grand Rapids this fall as well. I'm gonna be Zoomie's pacer... HA! Happy birthday again! Y'all are youngsters. :-P
ReplyDeleteHi Sara:
ReplyDeleteI found your blog from a blogroll on someone else's site. Like you, I'm going to run the St Louis Marathon this year and am in training for it now.
I'm pretty slow myself, but I figure it this way...I'm way ahead of the people that are still sitting on the couch of doom, eating their cheezy poofs! Use that as comfort...that, and the fact that when you finish your marathon you'll be in the top 1/10th of 1% of the world's population...
Jim
Hey Sara!
ReplyDeleteThanks for dropping by my blog. I appreciate your comments:)
I'm afraid I won't stay ahead of ol' Rick for long. He's doing a LSR today and I only did a 5'er but there's always next week:) It's fun to compete with him. He's such a good sport!
About running with your dog, is that something you've done regularly or did you recently start? My dog (100 lb lab named Jack) whines whenever I'm leaving and I'm so tempted to take him along but like you, I'm concerned he'd be more interested in squirrels, other dogs, etc. How many miles did you start your pooch off with?
I'd better get a move on. Snow's coming and I need to go vote today! (SC)
Do you mind if I link ya on my blog? (gonna go do it now so if you object, I'll remove it later:) )
Mar