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Saturday, July 14, 2012

I'm running a MARATHON. What?!?


This morning I ran 12 miles. On the treadmill. At the gym. In the cardio cinema. While watching Rocky Balboa.
That wasn’t my original plan.

Yesterday I experienced a nagging level of anxiety as I anticipated my Saturday long run, knowing I would be rising at 4:30 a.m. after an already-exhausting week to run in the dark for twelve very long miles, a feat I had never before attempted; but since I am signed up to run the St. George marathon in October this year, I have to stick pretty closely to my training plan; 12 miles now will have to be accomplished in order to be ready to run 26.2 in just two and-a-half months.

At bedtime last night, my patient husband listened to me ramble on about my marathon doubts and fears.  Just why am I training for a marathon?  I am too old to do this!  Am I crazy?  Will I even be able to run 26.2 miles?  It will be expensive to travel to St. George; David will have to take off work; the kids will have to miss school.   It’s so time-consuming to train.  I am tired. 

When my alarm went off at 4:30 this morning I knew it probably wouldn’t be a good idea to run outside with my friend, Melissa, as I had originally planned.  (Melissa is also training for the St. George Marathon, and we have done some of our running together, which makes it really nice because I love to talk and run.  I also love to think and run when I am alone.  Running allows me to think clearly and to appreciate the beauty around me and contemplate on my blessings.  I often pray when I am running alone.  I have felt God’s love for me when I am running and praying).  Anyway, the reason I knew it would not be a good idea to run outside this morning with Melissa is because my sleep had been interrupted repeatedly in the night by lightning flashes which lit up my bedroom, as well as thunder crashes, not mention dreams of sleeping through my alarm and being late to meet Melissa, tripping over objects and meeting up with obstacles in trying to find her.  I texted Melissa to let her know I thought it would be safer to run at the gym instead of outside in the lightning storm; she texted back that she agreed. 

I begrudgingly got dressed for the gym, ate my protien and fruit (raw almonds, milk, and honeydew melon), and drove through the storm to Gold’s Gym.  It was just getting light outside and there were only three cars in the parking lot at 5:30 a.m.  I made my way to the cardio cinema, crossing my fingers that there would be a good movie playing today to make the two hours on the treadmill go by a little faster.  Lucky for me, it was Rocky Balboa on the big screen.  I was the only one in the cinema, and the time did actually go by pretty quickly.  The best part was that my hill climb at mile 7 coincided perfectly with the training scene in the movie, where Rocky is getting ready for the big fight against the reining heavy-weight boxing champion.  The Rocky theme song was plenty motivating for me to make it up the hill.  The fight scene also came at a good time in my run, about mile 10.  I actually felt great at that point, and found myself cheering on Rocky and being distracted from the tedious treadmill running.  At mile 11 I really hit a wall.  My knees were hurting, the movie had ended, and I was tired of running.  I actually had to walk for a little while during that last mile.  Then I ended strong – the last quarter mile I ran at 7 mph pace.  That felt great.  I did it! 

I came home feeling famished.  I made scrambled eggs with cheese, bacon, toasted homemade wheat bread with honey and butter, and honeydew melon.  I ate breakfast in bed with my husband.  I made enough food for both of us, but ended up eating most of it.  Yum!

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