Eight Days
Eight days! As the sports announcers say, if you're not excited you need to check your pulse.
What a year it's been. A little over a year but a lot of running adventures:
Dec. 05 - St. Jude Half-Marathon. The first one. The patron saint of hopeless causes. A beautiful day, a beautiful race.
March 06 - Little Rock Half-Marathon. My job had been a nightmare for a little over a month. Just making it out the door seemed like a victory. And to return to one of my favorite cities where I lived growing up was nice also. I remember a sign above a bar door: If dreams were fire and lightning was desire, this old house would have burned down a long time ago. I didn't run quite as fast as I thought I could but I got a half-marathon that still stands today.
June 06 - Sunburst Marathon. My first marathon. What a glorious day. I know the elite runners don't pay attention to much except the race. But I saw a lot that day as the mist rose off the St. Joseph River in northern Indiana. And then there was the end when I was about to enter the football stadium. A man standing there giving course directions said to savor every moment. And I did. Typically I like to have a strong kick at the end of races but I almost deliberately chose to run in slow motion for those last few moments toward the 50-yard line of Notre Dame stadium.
July-August 06 - Camp Marafiki. The Kenyan running camp in the desert mountains of Santa Fe New Mexico. That was great fun, great food, great experience. I learned so much and had a wonderful time.
Look back over this timeline though and you see there's not really a break. Over the next several months I kept running with no real breaks but I've had some strange foot pain. It's almost gone, thankfully. I'd say my foot is at 90 percent after most of the fall being closer to 75 or 90 percent.
However, this year's St. Jude Marathon couldn't get me to drive through the icy mountains of Arkansas after a winter storm. All in all, it worked out for the best, but I've been flirting close to getting burned out. Now, it's the taper so that shouldn't matter.
I wonder though how my running will go after this race. I've got time goals I think are achievable, but how do I approach that. I just met two guys who ran 52 marathons in 2006. I don't ever want to do that. Wouldn't it reach a point where it stops being fun? But that's what I'm thinking about now close to the start of my second one. I think I'd really like to train for a marathon with a friend who was going to do the same race. Besides that though I need to rest from these marathon goals. Or at least give my body a bit of a rest before attempting the next one.
Maybe I'll resolve that I won't even think about running another marathon this year. Except possibly in December. Depending on how things go.
Seriously these are my resolutions:
Get more organized.
Run faster although not necessarily farther. Take more days off to cross train.
Drink more beer.
Drink more red wine.
Drink more liquor also. Tequila, vodka, rum. In moderation, of course.
Cook more.
Travel more.
That's 7 resolutions. It's a good number, eh? We'll see how it all goes.
What a year it's been. A little over a year but a lot of running adventures:
Dec. 05 - St. Jude Half-Marathon. The first one. The patron saint of hopeless causes. A beautiful day, a beautiful race.
March 06 - Little Rock Half-Marathon. My job had been a nightmare for a little over a month. Just making it out the door seemed like a victory. And to return to one of my favorite cities where I lived growing up was nice also. I remember a sign above a bar door: If dreams were fire and lightning was desire, this old house would have burned down a long time ago. I didn't run quite as fast as I thought I could but I got a half-marathon that still stands today.
June 06 - Sunburst Marathon. My first marathon. What a glorious day. I know the elite runners don't pay attention to much except the race. But I saw a lot that day as the mist rose off the St. Joseph River in northern Indiana. And then there was the end when I was about to enter the football stadium. A man standing there giving course directions said to savor every moment. And I did. Typically I like to have a strong kick at the end of races but I almost deliberately chose to run in slow motion for those last few moments toward the 50-yard line of Notre Dame stadium.
July-August 06 - Camp Marafiki. The Kenyan running camp in the desert mountains of Santa Fe New Mexico. That was great fun, great food, great experience. I learned so much and had a wonderful time.
Look back over this timeline though and you see there's not really a break. Over the next several months I kept running with no real breaks but I've had some strange foot pain. It's almost gone, thankfully. I'd say my foot is at 90 percent after most of the fall being closer to 75 or 90 percent.
However, this year's St. Jude Marathon couldn't get me to drive through the icy mountains of Arkansas after a winter storm. All in all, it worked out for the best, but I've been flirting close to getting burned out. Now, it's the taper so that shouldn't matter.
I wonder though how my running will go after this race. I've got time goals I think are achievable, but how do I approach that. I just met two guys who ran 52 marathons in 2006. I don't ever want to do that. Wouldn't it reach a point where it stops being fun? But that's what I'm thinking about now close to the start of my second one. I think I'd really like to train for a marathon with a friend who was going to do the same race. Besides that though I need to rest from these marathon goals. Or at least give my body a bit of a rest before attempting the next one.
Maybe I'll resolve that I won't even think about running another marathon this year. Except possibly in December. Depending on how things go.
Seriously these are my resolutions:
Get more organized.
Run faster although not necessarily farther. Take more days off to cross train.
Drink more beer.
Drink more red wine.
Drink more liquor also. Tequila, vodka, rum. In moderation, of course.
Cook more.
Travel more.
That's 7 resolutions. It's a good number, eh? We'll see how it all goes.
Labels: Notre Dame
posted by bl at 10:19 am
3 Comments:
"If dreams were fire and lightning was desire, this old house would have burned down a long time ago"
That's a line from Angel From Montgomery" by John Prine one of our favorite songwriter/singers. I highly recommend his music.
John Prine's dear friend Bonnie Raitt has also done a marvelous cover on the song, and they sometimes bring each other out at their concerts to sing a duet on it...
Here are the actual lyrics...
ANGEL FROM MONTGOMERY
©John Prine
I am an old woman named after my mother
My old man is another child that's grown old
If dreams were lightning thunder was desire
This old house would have burnt down a long time ago
Chorus:
Make me an angel that flies from Montgom'ry
Make me a poster of an old rodeo
Just give me one thing that I can hold on to
To believe in this living is just a hard way to go
When I was a young girl well, I had me a cowboy
He weren't much to look at, just free rambling man
But that was a long time and no matter how I try
The years just flow by like a broken down dam.
Repeat Chorus
There's flies in the kitchen I can hear 'em there buzzing
And I ain't done nothing since I woke up today.
How the hell can a person go to work in the morning
And come home in the evening and have nothing to say.
Repeat Chorus
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