26.2

I've wanted to complete a marathon for the past several years but, last year, I promised myself that I would finally complete one before my next birthday.  Well, you know Murphy and his laws. I was signed up for the PF Changs Marathon last month but several events converged to put a monkey wrench in my best laid plans.  

So here I was, with my next Birthday rapidly approaching in three weeks and I had a goal to meet. But how to meet it? Colin and I talked it over and I realized that I really didn't need to participate in a scheduled marathon event to accomplish my goal. In fact, running an "at home marathon" had some distinct advantages. 1) Colin could be home when I ran it, so he could take care of the kids.  2) If we mapped a good route near our house, I could always run home every 3.3 miles to ensure I had access to water, nutrition and, almost as important, a bathroom! (of course, it meant 8 laps, tempting me to call it a day and stay at home with each pass, but...... 3) since I had my own home grown cheering section, I figured they would motivate me enough to keep going.

And so it was decided.  Initially, we aimed to have me run the 26.2 miles the first week in March. But the weather was nice and cool this weekend, so I went for a run today and told Colin that I would run a few laps and see if I felt like I could keep going.  Long story short, by the time I run 13.1, I figured I might as well finish it up.  

More hours went by then I care to remember (or would like to admit), but the end result was that I finished, and didn't even have any blisters on my feet to complain about and my knees held up without a hint of soreness. Of course, the chaffing from my bra (and I wore two to try to minimize it) and the soreness in leg muscles are another story all together.  The important thing is, I met my goal, and have no intention of running another marathon, ever again.

Many thanks to my supportive husband and great cheering section (in the form of Sophia, Keenan and Marz). Colin even missed the beginning of the Super Bowl to help me see this craziness through and he did it without complaint.  Thanks to my homegrown marathon team, I couldn't have done it without you. 

One final note. During the last 6 miles of my run, my body was begging me to stop, and it was very tempting to oblige. But aside from my family waiting for me, another thing helped me to keep going.  I have a book of famous quotes that I read every now and then and I hadn't looked at it in some time.  But yesterday, I happened to pick it up and the page fell open to a quote by Eleanor Roosevelt about fear and resilience. To sum it up, she said, "you must do the thing you think you cannot do."  So at mile 20, when my body really started to resist my intentions, I repeated that very wise quote to myself as often as was needed to keep my legs moving.  Lo and behold, it worked.  Many thanks to First Lady Roosevelt as well.