Once upon a time, in the spring of 2008, my friend Ty talked me into signing up for the Walt Disney World marathon in January 2009. (Or did I convince her to do it one more year?) Our familes would all go and we would have a great vacation, culminating in her husband and our kids watching us finish the marathon. What a grand dream! But sadly, she destroyed her knee and now running is just a dream for her future...
I tried to talk my sister into joining us, but she convinced me to do the Spinx Run Fest marathon in Greenville, SC in October 2008. Disney was too far of a drive for her with young twins in their first year of kindergarten. Since she was going to do the marathon in Greenville, I decided to join her and registered for it shortly afterwards, reserving an expensive hotel room in downtown Greenville, just blocks from the start/finish.
A week ago, my sister called me to tell me she spent the afternoon at the emergency room and was diagnosed with double pneumonia. She said she put off calling me because it would be relaying that she most likely won't be able to do the marathon with me. I sensed the nervousness in her voice and tried to reassure her that her healing was much more important than running a marathon in October 2008. There are thousands more that will be held in the future. I could empathize with her on another level. I've had to back out of several marathons because of injuries. I had planned to run the Sarasota marathon in March 2008, but due to another meniscus tear, I had to down-grade. I really should have cancelled all-together, but instead, I did the half-marathon so I would have a weekend event with my sister. My daugher heard bits and pieces of the conversation, and afterwards asked me if I would still run the marathon without her Aunt. I told her I hadn't really had enough time to think about it. (She's heard me complain lately about how hard the long runs have been.) She told me that I had put in many hours of training, and I'm not injured, so she thought I should continue training and do it. The Greenville marathon is not one that I would have chosen on my own for my first marathon, because the course description mentions hilly. But, I have paid the registration fee and have been training towards it. My long runs in the past few weeks have not been great, but after talking to my daughter Monday night, she instilled in me a stronger ambition.
I didn't complete the entirety of my planned runs this week, but did run as much as I could. Tuesday I ran my scheduled 4 miles. Wednesday I only ran 6 (instead of 9) because I slept too late and had to work. Thursday was another ill day. Friday I ran 3 miles in the evening on the treadmill.
I typically do my long runs on Sunday's but we had plans to go to Silver Cloud Farm that day, so I did my long run on Saturday instead. I planned to do it Saturday morning, but I had an upset stomach. I felt better in the afternoon. I began my 18-mile treadmill run around 4:30 p.m. I expected that my daughter would have made herself dinner, but she didn't. She came to the basement when I was at 16.73 miles. I told her I had 1.27 miles to go. She cheered me on and said she was waiting on me to have dinner with her. I was truly delirious at that point. I somehow made it to 18 miles. Thanks to the snickers bar, Clif Shot, Virginia Tech vs UNC football game, CSI Miami, and running podcasts for getting me through the distance. It was easier and faster than my last few long runs. Maybe Snickers Rulz!
Miles run this week: 32.01
Days run this week: 5
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