As you can see, I have a sign that says that. Those pirates are holding it. My parents made it for me at the last race I ran, the SeaFaire Half Marathon in Bellevue back in June. Three of my fabulous co-workers ran it too, and you can see that they also all have signs, although that pirate is really proud of himself for holding Pants's sign upside down. Whatever, silly pirate.
I was injured in that race, pulled/tore a groin muscle, and even though I finished (4 hours, tons of tears, and one almost give up later) I haven't been able to run since. That race means a lot to me, for a lot of different reasons. It was my second half marathon, one sponsored by my company and attended by me and my friends (and wonderful parents). It was a grand weekend, we had a great time. I felt a little more like a "runner," I had done the routine before: the large meal Saturday night, bringing carb loaded snacks with me on the route, setting up viewpoints for my "fans," etc... we all thought we were prepared.
What that race taught me was to prepare for anything, because running is just that kind of sport. It was the most poorly organized race I have ever seen (and having seen 3, I am a bonafide expert!). It was 90 degrees by the time we finished, at least a 3rd of the course was on open asphault, there were San Francisco sized hills no one knew about, no shade, they started late, they ran out of water, etc. I know they had no control over the weather, but when you know the day before that it's gonna be that hot, and there's a Safeway next to the finish line, GO BUY SOME WATER! If it weren't for the kind people who stood for hours in their front lawns, spraying us with their hoses and in many cases bringing out glasses and fruit for us, I think we all would have had heat stroke. If it hadn't been for my dad, who came to see me at mile 8, saw that I was injured (thanks a lot super crazy hill at mile 7), and walked the rest of the 5.1 miles with me, I wouldn't have finished at all. He helped me all the way through, offered to take me back to the hotel when I decided to quit at mile 12, and then walked the rest of the way with me when I realized the hotel and the finish line were an equal distance away, and I might as well finish the stupid thing. And so thanks to him, I did finish, even though they ran out of medals, and I didn't get one until about a month ago (they didn't "anticipate" so many people running... HELLO! People register for this thing!). But I did.
Two weeks later Dad and I tried to run the Coburg "Run in the Country" half marathon, but I only made it a block before I had to walk. 5 miles in, we quit. I was ok with that. And I haven't ran since. No Butte to Butte, no Portland Marathon. Until September, I wasn't able to walk more than 6 blocks without limping. Boston was the real test, and I made it through 4 days of hill walking with no problem.
That leads me to here. The Eugene Marathon is in May. I want to run. I ran the half this year, and I can't help but want to do it again. I loved it. It was emotional, and exciting, and hard, and mostly fun! Sean's friend Teresa and I have been talking about running a lot, she lives in San Diego and I want to go down there and run one with her. Sean has said he will get up and go with me, to help motivate me out of bed in the morning. My other fantastic Theresa (who is getting married to the fabulous Michael Mason next August) wants to train with me to help get into wedding shape. So now we will train. I will get up before sunrise, put on my shoes, and go. I am really excited, but really apprehensive. I know how much work this is, and yet have no idea how hard a full 26.2 is going to be. I'm excited for that feeling again, I'm not excited for cold mornings, running for hours on a Saturday, and not sleeping in. But I really want to do it, and that's why I'm telling you all about it. As I told my husband, apparently putting things on the internet makes me feel more accountable, because everyone will know, and wonder, and I don't want to have to explain to the whole giant internet why I wussed out.
So we'll see how it goes. I'll update you, to keep me honest, and I. will. run!
And showing off my bling :)
