This weekend, I ran further than I've ever gone in my life. It was my first official 1/2 marathon... something I thought I'd never in a million years do. It was a BEAUTIFUL run through wine country in Paso Robles. The hills are amazingly green... there was water in the river... the farm houses looked like Rockwell portraits... eye candy all the way. I'll post a link to the run photos once the Wine Country folks have them up.
My sister sent me an email today, asking how it went. Initially, I was going to blog about the run itself, but her email exchange with me has pointed me a new direction. She told me that she can't imagine doing 2 miles (the asthma certainly DOESN'T help!)... let alone 13.1. I had that very same thought in my head last June when the folks from St Jude asked us if we would do a team relay marathon for St Jude Heroes. My mantra in life had always been "I hate running. I only run if someone is chasing me............ with a knife!" I mulled the relay thought over for a few days... examined my ever expanding muffin top in the mirror (being over 40 sucks)... and decided that I could spend the next five months with a personal trainer, attempting to prepare for a 7 mile leg in the team relay at the Santa Barbara International Marathon. Five months FLEW by. Coach Dan was an amazing motivator, always positive and cheerful. He made us want to make him proud. In fact... although we haven't spoken with Coach Dan since the marathon, he was one of the first people I had to e-mail to share the joy of finishing my first half. : )
My sister's email today made me think of all the things in life we may not feel capable of. We all have them. My co-workers will tell you what my response was when Coach Dan first told me to run 5 miles. I thought surely the man had lost his mind. He was showing more confidence in me than I had in me. But... 5 miles came and went... then 8 miles... then 10... then 12... and I started thinking "I can do this. I CAN run. And I like it!". Part of the motivation is self pride. You know how good it feels when you pull off something you didn't think you could do? That's what running is. You set a goal... something you may not ever see yourself achieving... and then you go after it.
I'll never forget our trip home from the Santa Barbara Internationl Marathon. Four of us were in the car. We had each taken on a 6-7 mile jaunt. There on the road in front of us, STILL walking, nearly an hour after we had completed the marathon, was a heavy set woman at about the 13 mile marker. I remember thinking "Wow. She'll be lucky to finish before they start tearing down the finish line." I also remember thinking "Wow. She's doing it. The WHOLE 26.2" I immediately flashed back to my leg of the run. I had tackled the first 7 miles. There was a man in his 60's. One with an obvious limp. I had been behind him the whole way. Here was a man old enough to be my father, and "running" as if he'd stepped out of a car donning handicap plates..... and he was kickin' my a**!!! I'm not kidding. It was all I could do to keep up. And there on his shoelaces, was the pink timer tag. The tag that signified he was running the WHOLE 26.2..... not my short 7 mile leg of the team relay. Ouch.
I'm not sure if it's the competitive grunt in me, or if it was the determination and spirit that these particular two people displayed, but I decided then and there... I could do more.
I've continued my running. I'm training for the Santa Barbara International Marathon again... and this time... I'm going to finish the WHOLE 26.2 miles. Running has become a new passion. I do it for me. I do it to prove to me that sometimes, we are capable of doing things that we don't think we can do. I proved that to myself this weekend at the Wine Country Runs half marathon in Paso Robles..... and I'll prove it to myself again on November 6th in Santa Barbara.
What CAN you do? What will you prove?
