One Foot In Front Of The Other

 

Well, here we are! Summer has arrived, Wahoo!! I for one am thrilled about this because I am soooo ready to be warm! Of course, I will have to leave town in order to get warm as unfortunately, the Oregon Coast is not known for balmy weather. There are not too many days here where you can go without a sweatshirt. And shorts? Forgetaboutit!! But Summer does mean it is warm somewhere and I am planning on finding all the warm spots I can over the next several months.

The other great thing about Summer is hopefully the rain will dissipate a bit. It feels like it has rained nonstop since October. Last year, when I trained for a half marathon I had the pleasure of doing a ton of walking in preparation for running because the weather was so nice. This year? Not so much. I haven’t bounced back from my two surgeries like I thought I would and because of all the rain, I did not spend as much time walking and probably began running before I was ready. But begin, I did and well, it has been an interesting ride.

I began this year’s running adventure just after Christmas. It snowed here, which NEVER happens and I wanted to get out and enjoy it a bit. I couldn’t really play as I was still recovering from surgery so I did the next best thing and went for a walk.

It wasn’t much, but it was a beginning

By the end of January, I was running, mostly because I could no longer spend that much time walking in the rain. Running gets me done quicker… okay, not much quicker but I like to tell myself it’s quicker because it makes me feel better.

I keep thinking each run is going to get easier. So far this has not happened and I am also not getting any faster. Last year I was running 9:30 per mile and I felt great. This year 11:30 per mile and I feel like I’m dying. The slow miles, coupled with the never ending rain made it extremely hard to be motivated to get out the door. There were some weeks I only ran once. I knew this was folly because there wasn’t much time to prepare for the Eugene 1/2 marathon in May to begin with. The more time I took off meant the less time I had to be ready. At the beginning of April I made the decision to not sign up for the 1/2 in May and set my sights on a  13.1 run here in Coos Bay in June.

I like the idea of this run because the course is the road I do all my long runs on. I’ve been running this road for two years and I know where every 1/2 mile marker is. Marker, is a generous term because my “markers” are large bushes, houses, fences etc. They are points I have memorized along the route so I know when to turn around and go back. I don’t go out and run 10 miles, I run 20, half miles. I have to trick myself mentally or I would never finish. Speaking of 10 miles, I ran my 1st 10 miler of the year last week.

This coming Saturday is the run…. 13.1. It will certainly not be a big race with fanfare and t-shirts and all that other hoopla. I am kind of glad for this because right now I just want to get out there and get r done. I’m feeling a bit anxious because I still don’t feel super ready, but, I am going to get out there and run anyway.

I have had a dream since my early 20’s to run a full Marathon. I have set my sights on October 2017. This marathon dream of mine has sat on the shelf for an awfully long time. My thought process is this, if I can complete a half marathon in June then surely I can complete a full marathon in October. Hey, if I survived breast cancer, surely I can survive a marathon right? I don’t know what will happen between now and October but I am going to run. I am going to put the time in, one foot in front of the other and I am going to keep pushing until I cross the finish line of a 26.2-mile race.

Have a Fabulous Day My Friends!

PS… Update:

I finished! 13.1 miles!

It was not pretty, it was my slowest 1/2 marathon to date, I did not feel well when I finished so no triumphant video to post AND I was DEAD LAST!! To be fair to myself there were only about 10 runners. but still … LAST. I will post more on this later. For today, I am glad it’s over and I can focus on gearing up for future runs.

Have a Fabulous Day My Friends!

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