Darn You Miley Cyrus

I didn't even get through my whole running list - so that's good - I won't have to add a whole lot more songs - maybe mix them up better or something. I love running in Philadelphia - the weather is so amazing - it's almost the end of November and it is the equivalent to local September day for me. The miles went by easier than they did last year or so I thought - in the end I am pretty sure I didn't beat my Victoria time - I had some knee strain, serious back pain (note to self getting adjusted the day before you sit for 12 hours and then try and run 24 hours after that - is a REALLY stupid and painful idea). I seemed to have finished with only a blister on the bottom of the toe next to the baby toe on my left foot.

I have lots I want to say about Philadelphia but right now my brain is a little slow. Yay for calorie burns that turn you senseless. The point I wanted to get at is I had Miley Cyrus' The Climb is on my playlist. At Mile 10-11 it came on and I just about broke down crying there - yes it's the hormones and the stress but at that time it was the great message - it isn't about the win or lose it is about the journey - that itself makes you who you are each time you cross the finish line.

Spring Marathon

I am very tempted to sign up for the Napa Valley Marathon and then see who I can con into coming with me or figuring on how I can get there. I do need a spring marathon as the local marathon is too late in the season.... so on that note have a look at the beauty of Napa.

Napa Valley Marathon

Swag...

There is a local fitness "hot spot" called the Grind, which has released t-shirts much like this one. I think they are fabulous within the tiny microcosom of our city, but I don't think I'm going to travel anywhere with this t-shirt... eek. However, that being said often the swag is one of the reasons I do the crazy things I do, or boink,* one such swag item is the Napa Valley marathon duffle bag. It actually might be enough to convince N to run her one and only marathon. I figure if she can't honor her 10 year old promise to me to run a marathon, she might be swayed by pretty things. What girl isn't?

*runner lingo for busting your guts

Hello There!

So I am back at it, SLOWLY, but surely and here is my new goal - the Seattle Marathon, while I would love to run dozens of races before this one, and maybe how about not running in the Pacific Northwest in November but alas, such is life. I know that I need to give myself the full 16 weeks, if not longer but at this point I am slowly getting up to the base miles for the 16 week training schedule which means if we all do some of our GRE required math I will have until the beginning of August to really get the base miles under my belt. What am I getting at? Well I would like to know that come August that 6 miles is a comfortable aka easier run for me, and that maybe I will have already tried out a 10 miler by then too... You might say well doesn't that defeat the point of a training schedule. Maybe it might, this time I am going to be doing a different schedule - the one in Bart Yasso's book to be exact and I'm going to be running a really hilly course, so much so that the Vegas Marathon a week later looks REALLY appealing and that might just happen instead. My goal is to do it in 4:30. A big challenge, but I might just be able to twist a few arms to join me so we'll see.

All that being said I believe that I should leave you with some music to run to:



This song came on the radio this week at work and I was surprised that I hadn't put up any of their songs - thankfully that issue has been rectified

Music Monday and More Juice

So yes there will be music posted, fear not. I am returning to say that the summer of travelling, stress and school has started to slow down. The future holds for us the following:

1. Review of Adidas and Nike running skirts - it's hotter than sin in this lovely city for the first time in like a 1/2 Century so it's time to embrace global warming and wear shorts, sort of.

2. Ayurvedic diet - I was vegan, and am honestly loathing what "healthy" eating is doing to my energy and body, so I've decided to find a diet (not for weight loss but for eating routine) that seems to encompass all my needs - high in fresh vegetables and fruit, beans, lentils, very low in animal protein and vegan and socially friendly.

3. Racing/Running: 1/2 Marathon in Victoria - I will be joined by T, funny enough years ago T and I started training for a marathon and failed at the training... time for another go at it. Followed by my goal, even if I have to limp/walk it, the Philly Marathon in November. Beyond that we see....

Lastly music:

Frustratingly I was in Hollister waiting for a friend to purchase a shirt and I realized I liked their music but unfortunately no staff, no Iphone and no playlist, so I am going to post the one song that has been bouncing around my head as of late:

The Fear

In recent days, or hours I've been struck by the fear, the fear of running 26.4 miles alone. Okay so it's not alone, there will be thousands of other runners around me, but who will be with me to tell me that yes that is "the wall" that I just fumbled into and I can and I will get through it, no tears, that's a waste of sodium, you can cry later when we can fill you with Powerade and homemade mac and cheese. I want to know that there will be someone there to make sure I get back to my residence safely - I do not trust my brain after that - I know what happens when I get tired. I get stupid, melt down stupid - hey folks I wrote the MCAT one glorious August day many moons ago, I know what I am going to feel like when 26.4 miles is over. In addition to the brain ache and butt ache, my quads and feet are also going to ache. I want someone there to tell me I wasn't ape shite crazy for doing this, that I really accomplished something and that in a day or two when we shop at Macy's this will all be a glorious moment, the pain will have subsided into the ethereal bliss of it all.

Right now, at this very moment I'm scared. I am scared that as I said to a friend of mine, that this is a case of where I set the line too far as a way of judging where too far is, and sweet Jesus I sure hope too far is not mile 1,5,7, 13, or even 20, but rather 26, the .4 we can hobble through.

All that being said, the fun part - my running team has dissolved - due to a recession, illness and well likely the fear contaminating others too. So if you are brave, stupid or just plain fabulous come on and join me for San Francisco. There will be homemade mac n' cheese and lots of glorious baguettes and vegan cupcakes to be had.


The Fear - LILY ALLEN

To Middle America and Back

I crossed the finish line in Oklahoma long before many of my friends and family were awake. I travelled alone, ran and crossed the finish line. The latter two I did not do alone, I ran with strangers and quick friends and crossed with the cheering of a crowd that might as well been my family. Through the whole process I realized runners don't look like runners, we look like people, tall and short, thin and not so thin. We run and we don't necessarily run fast, maybe we run slow, but we run, we put on foot in front of the other understanding in some way or another that this is life. From the day we stagger to our feet we learn that one foot in front of the other moves us forward. This lesson grows into every other aspect of our lives. I ran on Sunday to say the way we get through the ugly parts of our lives is just that, with one weak and fumbling foot in front of the other. We have and will survive and the best way to honor our past, our legacy and our future is to put that foot in front of the other and just keep going. And while your at it, remember the number one rule of running according the marathoner behind me, "It's not how fast you finish, it's how you photograph. If you see a media camera, put your shoulders back, chin up and smile, then resume your running posture." The whole thing just makes me want to cry, cry tears of joy for finishing, for the families who stand there knowing you're running in someones honor, and for all the emotional and mental miles I've covered in the last 7 months.

Onward ho - San Fran here I come and maybe Seattle in between...

PS. I will be doing Oklahoma next year, but I sure hope and pray it won't be hotter and more humid than hell - temperature wise it was horrible. Event wise it was wonderful - go figure. And no, this isn't me in the photo.

Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/banjojones/3478135693/

Marathons - The New Black?

Tina Fay proudly said "B*tch was the new black" when Hillary was running for the nomination, and maybe she was right, but I think we have a new black. A new staple, a new go to, ever popular event that might just be less excruciating then running for the Democratic nod. Marathons. I will say I have never run one, though my goal is to this year finish one if not two. It is a monumental decision in many respects and in many ways just as all consuming as an election, though a marathon is likely a far healthier goal.

This blog will in many ways cover the highs and lows of training, but the goal is not those finish lines, but rather to find a way to laugh, love and enjoy the process of running in life. Life is in many ways a continuous race, and no I'm not referring to that "rat race" we all seem to through ourselves into - but rather a cyclic process of starting and finishing in succession. We start school, we finish - some of us quickly and elated, and others it might as well have been an ultra marathon started with no training. And so the process begins again. A new stage of my life began this year and running as become my way of training the rest of my life for the roads ahead, those travelled and those untraveled.

I hope that this will be a place for seasoned vets to find new ideas and places and for all those somewhere earlier on the road to find some solace and community. Happy Running!!