Hello all~ I hope your long weekend was filled with fun times and warm weather. Jeff, Em, & I packed up the SUV and headed to Madison to stay with our Kothe cousins for the weekend. We ate, laid out on the dock, rode on the boat, ate, watched the girls in a water ski show, ate, and generally had a fun time. Oh, and I ran my 2nd 1/2 marathon of 2009.
I have to laugh...the first one was this huge, momentous deal that I wrote about all during my training. This one, not so much. I was MUCH more relaxed and low key for this race. In fact, I slept great the night before and had NO IDEA why my cousin was coming in to wake me at 5:15 am. I don't know if it's because I already had one under my belt, or because I didn't have a nagging injury causing me stress, or because I wasn't flying across the country to complete it, but this was a totally different experience. My cousin Amy (who ran Disney with me in January), her brother Joe (who ran this BAREFOOT and kicked all our butts with a sub-2 hour time!!), and her sister-in-law Sharon (on her husband's side) all ran. But we didn't run together at all. Joe caught me around mile 9, so we were together for about 10 minutes or so, but other than that, I was all by myself. The weather was perfect, and Madison is such a fun town. Kinda hilly for this flatlander, but other than mile 6, not too bad. It was just a great run. I was very proud of my time...I was shooting for a 2:10, and came in with a 2:11, but I had to make a pit stop @ mile 11, so I was right on pace. I'm more than a bit curious to know what my time would have been if I hadn't stopped, but at that point, it really wasn't optional for me :)
Would you believe that I don't have ONE picture from race day? We didn't have a camera with us before the start, and no one thought to take a picture at the finish area. Oh well. I know I was there :)
We were talking about how I got Amy running, and she got Joe running (as well as a lady who waits on her regularly @ Starbuck's), and Joe has gotten a few friends running, and so on. It's pretty neat to know that I've had a hand in helping people do something to strengthen their bodies and minds! With that, I have a challenge for you...get out there and run. Now before you say "no way," hear me out. If you're not a runner at all, run for 30 seconds and walk for 3 minutes. Do that 1 or 2 or 3 times. It will be hard at first, but trust me, it gets easier. If it didn't, none of us would run the distances that we do! If you can run for a few minutes already, find a 5K in your area this summer and sign up. It's amazing what a date looming on the calendar can do for motivation. If you're a 5K runner, stretch to a 10K. The point is, take that step to move out of your comfort zone. You'll be amazed at what your body can accomplish, and you'll feel so proud of yourself.
I would LOVE to hear about your running. Give it a try :)
a.
1 comment:
OK, OK...I meant to respond :). I started running in February, not really because of you but because my pt kicked my arse. However, around this time was when you did your first run I thought you were nuts. Now, I can ALMOST see the joy in it. Although, I see can't imagine getting up to your HUGE mileage level. I'm at 2.25 miles. Small gains but I started as you suggested: by running for 30 seconds. And, what it gets down to for me is that it burns calories SO much faster then walking :)
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