I'm almost back to normal! OK, I can walk mostly normal at least. I feel a lot better after a painfully sore weekend. The only obvious thing is the grimace I make when I stand up or sit down and I can't really do stairs yet... but I am feeling better enough to start dreaming and scheming about my next marathon! I do want to do it again, even though it was really hard and not very fun (i.e. brutally painful) for a couple of miles towards the end.
Looking back I can see how cool it was that I was able to finish, that I was able to keep running or walking even when I COULD NOT see how in the world I would be able to finish. I think the lessons that I had learned through my training helped me push through, and during the last 6 miles I saw a newer and fiercer determination in myself that I can appreciate a few days later.
I met some cool people as I ran, and in that sense I appreciate that I ran it alone instead of with a partner. I wouldn't have had the conversations that I did if I had been running with a friend. A woman in front of me had a friend join her around mile 20. She was really struggling, as we basically all were at that point, but he helped her to continue. I guess that is a common thing to do, to have someone join you and run a bit to help your mentality. While I think I would have benefitted from that, I am also glad to know that I CAN do it alone, that I did have it in me even though at that point I didn't think I did.
So for the few of you that might care, while I DO want to do another marathon, I don't know when my next race will be yet, or if the next one I do will be a marathon. The whole reason I did this marathon rather than one of the bigger and more known ones in the fall was that I will be student teaching in the fall, and I don't yet know how that will affect my schedule. So while I would like to do another one in the fall, I am not sure yet if I want to do 12 weeks or more of training only to start student teaching and find that there isn't time for a 10 mile run on a school day since teaching will involve so much prep and time at first (and always...). However, I am investigating the upcoming marathons in my area, and there is another small one that is on one of my running routes nearby...it's on the list of possibilities.
I was looking at marathons online and found this quote on the Girls on the Run charity page. I think it is a great summary of some of the things I have felt during this experience.
Running makes you.
Running makes you happy, healthy, and strong. Running makes the girl inside you come out and play. Running makes you better. Sure, running makes you tired, sore and sweaty, but that’s because running makes you give it all. And when you do, running makes you unstoppable. Let’s face it: running makes you the super-duper ninja
bomb-tastic superhero you were meant to be. Running makes you all that.
Running makes you so much more!
Looking back I can see how cool it was that I was able to finish, that I was able to keep running or walking even when I COULD NOT see how in the world I would be able to finish. I think the lessons that I had learned through my training helped me push through, and during the last 6 miles I saw a newer and fiercer determination in myself that I can appreciate a few days later.
I met some cool people as I ran, and in that sense I appreciate that I ran it alone instead of with a partner. I wouldn't have had the conversations that I did if I had been running with a friend. A woman in front of me had a friend join her around mile 20. She was really struggling, as we basically all were at that point, but he helped her to continue. I guess that is a common thing to do, to have someone join you and run a bit to help your mentality. While I think I would have benefitted from that, I am also glad to know that I CAN do it alone, that I did have it in me even though at that point I didn't think I did.
So for the few of you that might care, while I DO want to do another marathon, I don't know when my next race will be yet, or if the next one I do will be a marathon. The whole reason I did this marathon rather than one of the bigger and more known ones in the fall was that I will be student teaching in the fall, and I don't yet know how that will affect my schedule. So while I would like to do another one in the fall, I am not sure yet if I want to do 12 weeks or more of training only to start student teaching and find that there isn't time for a 10 mile run on a school day since teaching will involve so much prep and time at first (and always...). However, I am investigating the upcoming marathons in my area, and there is another small one that is on one of my running routes nearby...it's on the list of possibilities.
I was looking at marathons online and found this quote on the Girls on the Run charity page. I think it is a great summary of some of the things I have felt during this experience.
Running makes you.
Running makes you happy, healthy, and strong. Running makes the girl inside you come out and play. Running makes you better. Sure, running makes you tired, sore and sweaty, but that’s because running makes you give it all. And when you do, running makes you unstoppable. Let’s face it: running makes you the super-duper ninja
bomb-tastic superhero you were meant to be. Running makes you all that.
Running makes you so much more!
No comments:
Post a Comment