Running through my head

I've just returned from my pasta party dinner in which 600 Team in Training participants from the US and Canada got together, loaded up on carbs, and got uber-excited about tomorrow. They showed us a video of people crossing the finish line of previous marathons and (I am a HUGE cheese-ball for admitting this) I got misty eyed. It finally sank in that I am going to be one of those people tomorrow. I will have completed an endurance event and emerged on the other side of that finish line. It is an awesome thought in the most literal sense of the word.
More inspiring and breathtaking than that were the stories of survivors, children and friends of survivors, and people who lost their battles with blood cancers. A woman spoke to us about her experiences fifteen years ago as she battled Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma. Losing her hair was the least of her concerns, she told us, her chemotherapy was so aggressive that she lost her fingernails, toenails, and her intestinal linings were blistering and peeling. This is gut-wrenching at any time (especially when that gut is newly filled with pasta and marinara sauce), but she drove home her story by telling us of a woman with her same name, diagnosed with the same disease only three weeks before her, who did not win her battle.
The only word I can call to mind is "humbling." These people are amazing. They have given me something to call to mind to overrun my self pity when I am on that hill at mile 20, or when I am freezing my butt off at five tomorrow morning, waiting for my start time.
I love you guys very much. My chip is on my shoes, my number is pinned to my singlet, and I am as ready as I am ever going to be. I will be thinking of you tomorrow. I will definately let you know how it goes.

Until then, stay healthy.
Jen

T Minus 8 Days

So after a week and a half of NOT running whilst in the UK, I decided to start taking pictures of others who were doing what I should have been doing.

Less than two weeks to go (eight days, I believe). I spent an hour on the phone with the airline today, making sure I could get to Vancouver. Afterward, a woman I work with, Jill, asked if I was ready to run the marathon, to which I answered, "Are you ever ready to run a marathon?" Jill, having run the Las Vegas marathon a few years ago answered, "No, not really."

I guess I am as ready as I will ever be. I am excited and nervous all at once. The volleyball tournament is Sunday, and once that is over, I will simply focus on running. Well, I will simply focus on getting my work done so that I don't stress about that while in Vancouver.

I owe a debt of thanks to everyone who has helped me through this process. I have been amazed by the love and support that has crawled out of unexpected places. I have had family members who, suddenly, pretend I don't exist. But I have had friends offer their time, blood, sweat, and tears to help this amazing cause. You are some of my favorite people, you are my inspiration, you are people who make me proud to call you friends. Thanks. I will let you know how it goes.

All my love,
Jen 

Pedantics, orthopics, and podiatry

So the good doctor has plastered my feet (the American way, not the British plaster) and I should be getting some orthopics in a couple of weeks that will make me good as new (or better, since my original feet at birth were far too small to support my current size). I am a bit nervous about running with them as everyone who has them warns of their ability to blister one's feet in the first few miles of running. I will keep you all apprised.

Heel Spurs

It hurts to walk. I've been diagnosed with about a million different things over the past two days, so I think it is time to see a P.T. Wow, I feel like a real athlete now, I'm injured. At least I have insurance. That will come in handy.

I am Not a Quitter

2.12.2006
I have never been an exceptionally amazing person, and there have been times, looking back, that I wouldn't even classify myself as a good person. I have been mean to people who probably didn't deserve it, I have been selfish and, most of all, I have always been a quitter. I have come home early from trips due to homesickness, I have gotten distracted, disenchanted, and overwhelmed by activities and obligations and simply not seen them through.


I have been on a life path for the last two years or so that heads away from that person, but I always harbor in the deepest recesses of my being a fear that, when push comes to shove, that quitter is going to jump into the captain's chair, throw on the reverse thrusters, and get us the hell out of there. This morning, when I got home at 12:30 on the night before my first half-marathon, that quitter whispered to me, "You know, you don't HAVE to go. You haven't really run much this week, you might not make it." So I set my alarm and went to bed knowing that I might just sleep through it in the morning. At 6:30 a.m., I lay in bed thinking of all that I had to do to get ready for the race and what little time I had in which to get it done. Another perfectly reasonable excuse for lying in, but I got up, packed my bag, and headed out the door.


The race was hard. I started out at 9.5/10 minute miles, but the hills slowed me down (and the lack of sleep slowed me even further). All along the route, the TNT coaches were cheering us on, jogging beside us, asking how we were doing. I never felt pain, though my shoulder did grind at a few key moments, I was simply going. Two and a half hours of running is a long time. It was not easy, but it was never impossible, which left the greatest impression on me. I remember thinking that this was a definite possibility.


I would like to tell you that 6:30 this morning was the last time I heard from our temptress, the quitter, but she was with me all along that course. There was a time in the 7th mile that the course doubled back on itself and people were running in both directions, and I could have turned and cut a mile out of my race, but I wanted to finish the whole thing. I wanted to be able to tell people that I ran the 13.1 (and believe me, I do). I wanted to be able to wear my finisher's medal and not feel like a fraud. The legend of Pheidippides running from Marathon to Athens might be a myth, but I couldn't see myself concocting a story, I wanted the real thing.


SO I may not necessarily have been a nice person in my youth; and as I settle into adulthood, I would not call myself great. I am, however, comfortable: with who I am, with what I can do, and, most importantly to me, with looking people in the eye. I am not a quitter. I am an endurance athlete, in the race of life, and beyond.

Thanks so much to Hooters Mission Valley for all of their help. They were wonderful! 

The First Ever Charity Poker Tournament at Hooters was a huge success. We raised $800 that night.  

Our winner: walk coach Roger 

From the Halfway Point

Last Saturday I ran 13 miles in two hours and seventeen minutes. No earth-shattering feat, I know, but I started thinking: If anyone had tried to tell me when I started thinking about training for this marathon that I would be running thirteen miles and then going on with my life as if nothing had happened, I would have never believed them. Yet that is exactly what I did. I ran, then went to yoga, then went to my bookclub meeting. A typical day that happened to include running a half-marathon. So as I reach the halfway point of my training, I have realized a few things:
1. Never make any life-changing decisions before running on them for a while (it clears the head like nobody's business).
2. Anyone can do this, all it takes is patience.
3. No... I can't drink like a fish the night before and then get up and run. My body doesn't like it and my body has its ways of making its opinions known.
4. When people tell you that you shouldn't wear cotton socks, you should listen to them. I don't know how I managed to get blisters in the arches of my feet, but I did.
5. Never underestimate yourself. The body is an amazingly resiliant organism that can meet most any challenge.

I run the San Dieguito half marathon on Sunday, so I might have more insights after that, but I am fairly confident now that I will finish this marathon in May without a problem, and that is a great thing to know.