Every little thing

This morning, I went for an 8 mile run before work. It was beautiful - last night, it rained and the paths by my house were empty for the most part. Only a few other brave souls woke up and convinced themselves that it would be a good idea to go out and seize the day. I am always so glad when I do make it out in the morning, but it can definitely be a challenge.

My mom came to visit me this past weekend, therefore I was wearing a new pair of shoes (I actually got TWO new pairs of running sneakers but this isn't about bragging). The pair I was wearing this morning are amazing - they are a bright baby blue and just look so cool (since we're bragging, did I mention that my mom is the best?*). But as I was rolling along, I realized that my foot hurt. I was really in pain. I considered turning around. I saw my running life flash before my eyes. Then I remembered that when I had tied my shoes this morning, I had tied my left shoe a little bit too snugly. At the time, I didn't consider that this would cause me serious pain in the arch of my foot. But it did!! As soon as I stopped and retied the shoe a bit looser, I was fine. And finished my 8 miles.

It just goes to show how important training is. You have to learn your body's needs, you have to learn how to adapt to different situations and crises. One little thing goes wrong and suddenly you think you have to quit. It's finding a way around quitting that seperates the marathoners from the rest of the world. Come my friends. Join me.

*While we're on the subject of MamaMennone....she is going to do a half marathon with me this fall!!!

Ramblings

I like to do stuff just to do it. I planned a trip to China not particularly because I had a huge yearning to go to China, but because I really wanted to check it off my life list. I like to do stuff. I wanted to go, but I wanted to go just to go. I think life is too short to leave off anything just because it seems hard, or far away. There are some problems to my approach though. It can mean that if something doesn't interest me, it means I don't want to do it. I drag my feet. I avoid it like the plague. But that's not really the best solution. It also means that I often do something, like a triathlon, just to the point of surviving it. Sure, I finished a triathlon, but I didn't really do very well. I trained just enough to squeeze by, but not enough to triumph. And the biggest problem that I usually encounter is that once I finally finish it, I discard it. I cross it off my list and wipe my hands off (or take a shower, if it's dirty enough).

Marathons though, I've stuck with. I've done five now and I'm going to keep doing them. Maybe I won't always do them incredibly fast (fastly?), but I'm going to continue to do marathons until my knees have to be replaced and even then I'll do some more.

AND MORE RAMBLINGS.

5ks. I've never been a fan. 3.1 miles? Why bother? But I signed up for a series of 5ks on Fridays in April by my new apartment. And it was SO MUCH FUN. My goal was just to improve my time every week. I did meet this goal (ok I skipped one week, but I did do 4) and I did much better than I expected to. I ended up coming in 22nd out of 745 women in the last race, clocking in at 22:20. TWENTY TWO MINUTES. That is 7 minute miles!

Maybe now I will do more 5ks. I would really like to get faster overall. Maybe if I keep doing fast 5ks, my marathon time will improve!

WHO KNOWS??? THE WORLD IS NOT READY FOR ME TO CONTINUE DOING STUFF!