Couch to ATHLETE!

I had the good fortune of seeing many wonderful people this past weekend. It was amazing to hear all of the good will people offered me as it was the first time many of these folks had seen me since I ran the marathon. I was also blessed with a few emails from friends who have decided to pick up running and have told me they are inspired by me and my persistence. Here is what I have to say regarding all of the amazing thoughts that people have shared with me over the last weekend. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!! In all honesty I do not feel like an inspiration I do what I do because I want to improve my quality of life; I want to live. What do I mean you may ask? Well, I want to have a long life of many hikes, camping trips, music festivals, road trips, visits with my friends/family, and the list goes on... I realize that I have very little control over when I am going to die but as long as I am alive I am going to live my life to the very fullest, which includes logging an hou...

I was supposed to run tonight after babysitting the cutest little man in Columbus, but due to timing I have been forced to relax instead. Getting back into running after a marathon varies from person to person. Some folks jump in immediately and are able to heal quickly, while others may take a few weeks or even a few months to fully recover from a marathon. Over the last week I have been trying to build my mileage back up to pre-marathon weekly mileage. I have not been fully successful but I am getting there! I have started writing a training plan but have become more inspired by running for the sake of running rather than having a true plan. Don't get me wrong, I am trying to achieve 250 miles for November and December (I am likely to fail as I will probably only hit 110 miles in November) and that is a plan, however I like to just go out and see where my feet take me. Tonight as I sit in my 'grampa' chair, listening to music, reading and writing I have discovered th...

I realized today that there are a number of words I use on a semi-daily basis that I don't even know the true meaning of (wow ending sentences in prepositions, today is not a good writing day). Because I am a word of the dayer I feel like I have a somewhat adequate and intelligent vocabulary but when I realize I don't know the literal definition of, say, the word humble I need to educate myself so I don't sound ridiculous! Dictionary.com solved this problem and provided me with a definition of humble (I should mention that I might still sound ridiculous even though I looked up the definition, but I'm OK with that.). Here is what I learned: Humbled means: adjective 1. not   proud   or   arrogant;   modest:   to   be   humble   although successful. 2. having   a   feeling   of   insignificance,   inferiority,   subservience, etc.:   In   the   presence   of   so ...

Experiencing a marathon from the sidelines is very different than running one yourself. I had the pleasure of spectating my second marathon ever yesterday in Elyria, Ohio. Because I am a very reflective person I stood on the sidelines of my favorite person's marathon reflecting on his success and how I can learn from his success. For starters, nothing in life is easy; neither is crossing the finish line of a marathon. The result we get when we cross the finish line is very reflective of the work we put in to getting there. Sound dramatic? Perhaps, but the reality is  that statement is so very true. Think about it, if your goal is learning to play puff the magic dragon on your guitar by Christmas but you only pick up your guitar to tune it from time to time, you should not expect to play puff the magic dragon any time soon! So as I was watching this incredible individual achieve his goal all I could think is we all need to try harder, play harder, practice harder and believe in...

Some of the runners I love (my sister is missing) If you love a runner, you will understand what I am about to talk about here. The people I am closest too have told me that I have had particularly cranky days leading up to the marathon AND I was told that I have lost a bit of my optimism over the last couple of weeks. I think I can, almost, safely say that I am in a better place today but I still feel it is necessary to address the topic! Pre-marathon can be a particularly hard time for a runner. I think I mentioned this challenge in my post  Truth About Tapering  post. First of all, runners have to decrease their mileage pre-marathon and on top of it fuel their body properly. The decrease in mileage for some of us can drive us crazy, not to mention feeling like a sloth as the carbo-loading ensues. It is necessary though. I was particularly lucky to be spending time with the coolest kiddos the weekend before my marathon but any time I was not with them I may have been ...

I am sitting here thinking about what I got myself into signing up for this lil' marathon I am going to run in four days. Many of you have been following me since the beginning of this journey, while others are newer to the scene but none are less important than the other. If you know me at all, you know I spend a lot of time self reflecting and as I was sitting on my couch relaxing for the last five minutes I figured it would be nice to catch some of this self reflection (or perhaps I should call it a reflection on my journey) on my blog. I try not to get to personal on here because let's face it, this is about my journey to becoming an athlete NOT about my personal life beyond running/cycling/swimming; and I would kind of like to keep it that way. On the other hand there are a number of things I have learned about myself that I feel are tied into this amazing journey that I know is going to continue beyond the finish line on Sunday. Here are my lessons: Finding the Une...

First I have to say tapering sucks!!! I have promised honesty while on this journey and I would be a big ole liar if I said I enjoy this low mileage stuff leading up to the marathon. A number of factors have impacted my training this week but one of the biggest factors is my brain. I have read the most recent article in Runner's World Magazine about tapering  and it provided great recommendations on tapering properly; they are the experts, why oh why don't I believe them. As I sit here watching some terrible movie on the Lifetime network (the number 3 reason for getting rid of cable at my house) my mind continuously drifts to the impending marathon. Here are some of my thoughts: - If I don't run big mileage this week, how can I be sure I can finish 26.2 miles? - If most of my runs were challenging and demotivating last week will I still have the positive attitude to complete 26.2? - One of the motivational people in my life ran her marathon today, will I have the s...