Monday, May 30, 2011

# 6- Run a Marathon....

This at one point seemed like the scariest of all the the activities on The List.  I mean seriously, 26.2 miles??  I don't even drive that far to work every day!  And how on earth am I supposed to train?  What if I hurt my knee again?  What if I don't finish?  This and about about a hundred other questions went churning through my mind.  So I decided to do something sane for once: I would ease into running.  Anyone who knows me can tell you the ridiculous amount of restraint this took.  Ordinarily I would jump right in and start running 8 miles-a-day.  Everyday.  For a month.  That is until I grew so disgusted or injured due to over-training that I would decide to flip running the bird and move onto something else.  But for this, I decided to actually use the brain and common sense God gave me and I joined Team Philly.  I signed up for the Broad St. Run to give myself a goal and proceeded to contemplate my sanity.  10 MILES. 

And then I started the training.  And I remembered I love to run.  Check that: I love to SPRINT.  My favorite part of the first few weeks was running hard for the last half mile.  That feeling of kicking into overdrive and not giving a crap if I looked like a lunatic (I have a creepy tendency to smile maniacally when engaged in athletic activities).  And I was having fun.  Even when I didn't know the person next to me, I still fed off the energy of running in a pack.

When we did the 8.4 mile Loop up around Kelly and West River Dr, I spent the entire run looking at the crew teams on the river, the trees, the families hanging out on the Drive super early.  And even though I destroyed the sleeve of one of my favorite shirts (too a turn SUPER tight onto the Falls Bridge), it was still on of the best runs of my life.

Now that I have Broad St and the Oddyssey Half-Marathon under my belt, I'm pretty sure I can do this.  Scratch that.  I know I'm going to kick the Philly Marathons silly little butt. 

So...anyone have any words of wisdom for me?  Any little insider tidbits I need to know about Marathons in general, The Philly Marathon in particular?  Let me know

Love,
Ruth

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