Last weekend I had 16 miles on my schedule and Mother Nature had another blizzard on her schedule. Well......screw you b*tch......I'm running anyway. I got up early and got started to try and be done before it got really hazardous out. My 16 mile loop has a few sections of narrow sort of busy roads, about 4 miles in total, then the rest is on quiet back roads. It is full of never-ending hills. The first 3 miles are the same for all my long runs with one mile being all uphill. Then I get 3 miles of rolling downhills before I have to climb again. From mile 6 to 11, the hills just keep coming. I get a little recovery and some flats from 11 to 14 then I go up again right to the end of the run.
I started out sort of slugish and not feelin it. I was grumpy and pissed off at the world and the calendar with it's stupid fake holiday and hearts and flowers everywhere. After the first 4 miles I settled in and relaxed. I found my happy place. Just me and my running shoes and the road. MY LOVE. I didn't worry about pace or work or bills that need to be paid or errands I need to do or the garbage disposal in my kitchen that still needs to be replaced or the slow leak in the tire on my car or my fundraising or my lack of plans for the rest of the weekend. I just put one foot in front of the other and let my mind just go to one mile at a time, one step at a time, one breathe, one heart beat......ahhhhhh......inner peace. So simple, so so hard to find sometimes.
I finished my run, 16.5 miles and I felt so much better. I negative split it and actually ran one of my least favorite hills really strong and faster than I expected (I usually end up walking up that last little bit of it because it is so long and steep). It left me feeling really good, tired, but satisfied and optomistic and really positive compared to how I started the run. I actually thought about giving up a few times in the first mile. Glad I pushed through it.
My fundraising is officially over $10,000! I'm not stopping. I'm begging friends and family and former donors to please reach out to the next degree of separation and ask their friends and family for donations. Assuming about 100 people have donated to me so far, if only half of them asked just 2 more people to donate say for example $25 that would add up to $2500 and put me close to teh $13,100 mark or $500 per mile of the marathon. If you are reading this and you have already donated, please share my link with a friend and encourage them to donate too. If you haven't donated yet, WTF? Come on, what are you waiting for? :)
Yesterday I had a DFMC team meeting in the evening to talk about going back to Boylston. I really wanted to go for a run before the meeting. Mother Nature decided to try and prevent me from getting out there, but I was prepared. I brought my YakTrax.
It was supposed to be raining, but it was more like slushing. It wasn't quite snow and it wasn't rain. The sidewalks were still covered with snow from the last storm the day before that dumped another foot at home and I think at least another 3 inches in the city. And with the slush falling from the sky it was extremely slick and soggy. I decided to do another 'practice run' to prepare myself for April. I have had enough of Mother Nature ruining my running plans and I just don't care anymore. I will get wet. I will be cold. The snow banks might be taller than me. I will be forced to wear my YakTrax to avoid slipping on ice. BUT I WILL NOT STOP. I have a marathon to run! I got soaked, but it was worth it. I ran Hereford and Boylston and I got one step closer to OK.
The team meeting was perfect. I had to swing by REI and get some dry clothes to wear first, but then I got there and met a few fellow runners and said hi to some familiar faces at the DFMC office. The meeting went til about 9pm and was exactly the inspiration and reminder I needed to refocus and remember what it is I love so much about running and marathons specifically. It may be an individual effort but it is absolutely a community event. My feet will do the work, but the spirit of all of Boston will carry me across that finish line in Boston and I will once again feel the high and the glory that comes with finishing the best marathon in the world.
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