Just Keep Going
Living gratefully today, I appreciate the effort it took to get to the finish line of marathon #17, and the people who helped me get there.
The last miles of a marathon are always tough. That is a LONG run folks. My last couple marathons have brought those tougher miles sooner. My legs tighten up. It's hard to stride out. I need to walk more. I never doubted I would finish, but is my body trying to tell me something?
For the first time since we started marathoning 15 years ago, I am considering strongly that my streak will end at this one, or there will at least be a year off. Half-marathons are far more reasonable in many ways, and 13.1 is nothing to scoff at.
I thank my fellow runners who helped motivate me in various ways, especially Mike around mile 5 and Olivia from miles 20-23. Mike was running to raise awareness about his wife's rare form of dementia. Olivia was running her first marathon. My conversation with her over those 3 miles really helped get me close enough to the finish that I knew I could make it. It doesn't look like Mike finished. Olivia was just a few minutes behind me, so we congratulated one another at the finish.
Every marathon has a story to go with it. Every marathoner has a story for why they are out there.
I thank the many volunteers, and my family. It was great to see Darcy and Sam, and my niece Brittany and her boyfriend Brad at the finish. Thanks for coming out!
Running a marathon is humbling. Day to day recovery is humbling. Life's challenges can take us to our knees, and also to great heights. Life is about both the lows and the highs. Living gratefully helps me see that so much more clearly.
In a marathon, going out too fast can doom a runner. In life, going out too fast, not pausing, forgetting patience and an open mind and heart, can doom us as humans. We mess things up. We miss the important stuff. Slowing down can save us.
Before I got to mile 20 on Sunday, when the mind games and the body pains were mounting, I was thinking of Mary Jo and others, of my own cancer experiences 11 years ago. The message that came through was "Just keep going." So I did.
The last miles of a marathon are always tough. That is a LONG run folks. My last couple marathons have brought those tougher miles sooner. My legs tighten up. It's hard to stride out. I need to walk more. I never doubted I would finish, but is my body trying to tell me something?
For the first time since we started marathoning 15 years ago, I am considering strongly that my streak will end at this one, or there will at least be a year off. Half-marathons are far more reasonable in many ways, and 13.1 is nothing to scoff at.
I thank my fellow runners who helped motivate me in various ways, especially Mike around mile 5 and Olivia from miles 20-23. Mike was running to raise awareness about his wife's rare form of dementia. Olivia was running her first marathon. My conversation with her over those 3 miles really helped get me close enough to the finish that I knew I could make it. It doesn't look like Mike finished. Olivia was just a few minutes behind me, so we congratulated one another at the finish.
Every marathon has a story to go with it. Every marathoner has a story for why they are out there.
I thank the many volunteers, and my family. It was great to see Darcy and Sam, and my niece Brittany and her boyfriend Brad at the finish. Thanks for coming out!
Running a marathon is humbling. Day to day recovery is humbling. Life's challenges can take us to our knees, and also to great heights. Life is about both the lows and the highs. Living gratefully helps me see that so much more clearly.
In a marathon, going out too fast can doom a runner. In life, going out too fast, not pausing, forgetting patience and an open mind and heart, can doom us as humans. We mess things up. We miss the important stuff. Slowing down can save us.
Before I got to mile 20 on Sunday, when the mind games and the body pains were mounting, I was thinking of Mary Jo and others, of my own cancer experiences 11 years ago. The message that came through was "Just keep going." So I did.
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