Thursday, March 8, 2012

All I ever do is run

I like it. I love the way it feels to run. I like going a little farther all the time and pushing way beyond any limits I formerly perceived for myself. I feel strong. Empowered. Maybe I can do lots of things I never dreamed I could. I'm still not very fast (not very=at all), but once my weekly milage passed 40 I started to feel like I could call myself a real runner. When I say to the kids something like, "I'm going to run to the store real quick," they now answer, "You mean really run?"

The marathon is seven weeks away. That's close.

The hardest part of training is the time commitment--hands down. I do have days when I'm just thinking about all the other things I could be doing with that time that's devoted to slapping the pavement mile after mile, minute after minute. My long runs are a 2 1/2 hour ordeal now. (That reminds me, I need to google after how many miles you're supposed to replace your shoes.) I'm wondering what I'll do after the race. I don't want to lose the good lots-of-running feeling and nor the ability, but I think I'll feel ready to reclaim some of the time it demands. Where will that happy medium settle? I'm planning on Ragnar again in November and a triathlon in August for something different (just a short one, nothing hard core), so I can't slack too much. I struggle with feelings of selfishness for devoting so much time and energy to something just for me. (Maybe I should have waited until the kids are all older? Maybe I ought to swap running for humanitarian work?)

In any case, I'm starting to feel nervous about the reality of 26.2 miles all at once. Getting enough sleep the night before, eating and drinking the right amount, getting sick, getting injured, getting too exhausted to finish. I'm wondering how feasible it would be to schedule a massage for later that day...

got to run.

5 comments:

Unknown said...

So excited for you. You will be fine on the marathon. Don't stress.

I am really jealous of the triathlon goal. I would love to try that just as soon as I can afford a decent bike and learn how to swim that far without passing out. LOL

I have NO desire to run a marathon. None at all. Thank goodness because I am pretty sure that, like you, I would really struggle with the time commitment. Plus, the only way I could do it would be to get up at 5 am and that is never going to happen.

lisa said...

You'll do great! And you are allowed some "you" time, so don't feel guilty (:

Anonymous said...

how nice is it to have a sister remind you and encourage you!

joelb said...

40 miles? are you really saying you run a 10k every single day (not counting sunday)? whoa.

as for humanitarian work, maybe you could become a run-a-thon ringer and sucker people into per-mile pledges with which you then bleed them dry (for charity).

Brad said...

And make the calls while actually running!