I have been parking in this spot way too long now and feel that its time to follow in the footsteps of some of the bloggers that most inspire me.
My runnerversary is March 20, 2003. I turned 39 that day. I was tipping the scales at 200 pounds. I was in a bad marriage and full of self-loathing. I dragged my rather large posterior out of bed that cold morning and decided to change things. It was the day that I started learning how to love myself again. One of those tag lines that I've seen recently is "running changes everything". I am not sure where I saw it but I know that its true and I hold that truth to be self-evident.
It took me a few months, but I got out there every day, each day pushing myself a bit more. Run a block, walk a block, run two blocks, walk a block. Eventually, I meshed the run/walk into a contiguous run and started to build the distance. Several months later, when I finally accomplished my first five mile run, I came home triumphantly. Recalling all those Chicago Marathons I had spectated at, watching Joan Benoit Samuelson, Ingrid Kristiansen and most recently Paula Radcliffe triumph in my city, I remembered that time, back in the 80's when I thought it would be really cool to run a marathon - I proudly said to my now ex husband - "Hey, I think I may want to train for the Chicago marathon." He laughed back at me, in that sneer that I can still picture today and said "You'll never run a marathon." After he walked away, rather than let his words send me back to that place where I hated myself, I said "Fuck you, watch me."
On October 10th, 2004 I crossed the finish line of the LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon behind Constantina Dita-Tomescu and all the other great women before me and in that moment I became one of them - a marathoner. I will always refer to this marathon as my "fuck you marathon".
Several years and six marathons later, a chronic injury that I was finally able to rehabilitate, and I am back. 2010 was going to be my year. I was training for Chicago, but not doing all the right things. Constant shin splint pain was my reality and I had learned to live through the pain with lots of ibuprofen and ice. July 4th, a spectacular 14 mile run along the lakefront - except the pain is pretty bad and I spend the rest of the day icing it down. Three days later and its still there, five days, seven days and I am at the starting line of a 15k race in Traverse City on a gorgeous summer morning. At about mile 7, I finally realize that its something more than shin splints, but I keep going, wincing through the pain until I limp off the finish line. I didn't want to hear the words "stress fracture" but I knew that they were the words I had been avoiding for several weeks. I was in denial. I had The Rock and Roll Half Marathon, The Hood to Coast Relay, the Mexico City Tune Up race with my family, and 10-10-10 all lined up.
Two months of no running, intense physical therapy and time in the gym and I tentatively started running again in September. Week one - one mile every other day, week two - two miles every other day - well, you get the drill. A bit of pain along the injury site at first and then, as I got stronger, less and less pain there and more muscle pain in the side that I finally woke up with all the strength training and therapy, but it was the good kind of hurt. The hurt that tells you you are working some muscles that you never knew you had.
A Halloween Half Marathon on the calendar for 10-31 to keep me motivated is looming in the near distance and I am up to 5 miles the first week in October. Can I get to 13? Watch me! I keep up with the core work and runs every other day. Seven miles, then 8, then 10 on the 24th. The last mile is rough because I haven't gone that far since July 4th. By the time the week before the race rolls around, I am mentally ready to do it. An easy week with some short runs and lots of core work and as the weekend gets closer, I am determined. My PR would be anything faster than 2:24, easy. My goal would be anything under 2:10 and my secret goal is to be under 2:05. As luck would have it, some last minute course changes made the last mile long. Most garmins were saying anything between 13.4 and 13.55. My official time was 2:08:49 but in all likelihood, for the half, I probably came in at or very close to 2:05. Double that to 4:10 and it bests my marathon PR by 10 minutes. In a field of 115 women in my age group, I placed 36th too.
My next goal is to run a marathon in 2011 and get a BQ. In my age group, its sub 4. Watch me!
