Growing up as a child, we had the rule that if you started something, you finished it. This rule showed itself to me when I was in my second year of dance. My best friend, Ashley, loved dance and since she and I did everything together, I danced. My first year was okay mostly because we had blue sparkley tutus for our recital. During the recital, the sequins of my tutu got stuck to the girl's next to me; this proved very difficult to do my turns. I kept my smile on my face and would do half of a turn and then turn the other way. The next year, I knew our tutus were GORGEOUS, so I decided to endure another year (anything for my best friend and a beautiful tutu). That year, I didn't like my teacher and continued to wish I was at gymnastics instead of another year of dance. But, a rule was a rule: I had to finish the class. The recital was the happiest day; the end of the class! O.Ver.Joyed. I hated dance, but the rule always was to finish what you have commited to.
Fast forward 20 years and that principle is still engrained upon my being.
I have neve been one to have a "bucket list". I have mostly been a girl who lived in the moment and was ready for whatever came about. For those of you who have been reading my blog for a while, you know that I barely survived childbirth (Having Baby Boso). My case was extremely rare and there are nearly no studies about cases similar to mine, so I have no way to know if it will happen again. So, I began to set real, personal, goals for myself. These differed greatly for me from a type of resolution; I REALLY wanted to do these! One of the goals was to figure out how to run.
I remember so vividly, in elementary school, having to do the Presidential Fitness test and we had to run a mile. I dreaded this (I mean, why not just quit on the sit-and-reach?!) and always finished near the end of my class. So, after my lovefest with Weight Watchers , I found a 5k training program on their website and started running.
The running was going well so I continued to add mileage and I set my eye on the ultimate run: the marathon (Why didn't someone smack me when I thought about this?!). We decided to do the Kentucky Derby Marathon in April. Our ultimate goal was to run the Disney Marathon in January, but we wanted to be sure to have our first marathon jitters out of the way so we could enjoy Disney. It was set. That would give us off time from training during the crazy-busy summer months.
I was finishing my 5th week of training and got a fairly large ovarian cyst that caused me to take a pause in my running. The same week, it was determined that Lee has Planter Fasciitis and concluded that his foot wouldn't heal enough to be able to train for the marathon. I tried to run my 10 miler on Sunday and had to have Lee pick me up 2.5 miles in. I had run 9 the week before without batting an eye and then couldn't even run a 5k. I was devastated and humiliated. The reality of what this cyst may cause was starting to set in: this thing isn't going to go away overnight and it hurt too much to run with it.
Early in my training, I had a few discussions with our pastor, Dana (who is a multi-marathoner), about my marathoning plans. He discouraged (on SEVERAL occasions) running 2 marathons in 8 months. Dana had been out of the country and caught me a few hours after my failed run, at the right vulnerable moment, to give me another amount of encouragement to forego the full marathon and to run the half marathon instead. What he said to me, for the first time in months, made sense. My ultimate goal was to run the Disney Marathon, in its entire 26.2 miles of glory. Many studies suggest that it can take up to a year for your body to recover from a marathon. So, why jeopardize not being able to achieve my goal because of a "practice" marathon. The nail in the coffin was when he said that he didn't think I realized what stress running a marathon puts on a person's body; much less 2 marathons in 8 months. The thought of all of the time I would be losing of spending time with Nina during the peak of marathon training also began to weigh heavily on my mind. I wrestled for two days about what i thought I was going to do, and have decided that for once I am going to listen to the advice of those who have paved the way ahead of me.
So, here's to half marathon training (or mini-marathon, as they call it at the Derby) and running the full Run Disney on January 6, 2013!
Fast forward 20 years and that principle is still engrained upon my being.
I have neve been one to have a "bucket list". I have mostly been a girl who lived in the moment and was ready for whatever came about. For those of you who have been reading my blog for a while, you know that I barely survived childbirth (Having Baby Boso). My case was extremely rare and there are nearly no studies about cases similar to mine, so I have no way to know if it will happen again. So, I began to set real, personal, goals for myself. These differed greatly for me from a type of resolution; I REALLY wanted to do these! One of the goals was to figure out how to run.
I remember so vividly, in elementary school, having to do the Presidential Fitness test and we had to run a mile. I dreaded this (I mean, why not just quit on the sit-and-reach?!) and always finished near the end of my class. So, after my lovefest with Weight Watchers , I found a 5k training program on their website and started running.
The running was going well so I continued to add mileage and I set my eye on the ultimate run: the marathon (Why didn't someone smack me when I thought about this?!). We decided to do the Kentucky Derby Marathon in April. Our ultimate goal was to run the Disney Marathon in January, but we wanted to be sure to have our first marathon jitters out of the way so we could enjoy Disney. It was set. That would give us off time from training during the crazy-busy summer months.
I was finishing my 5th week of training and got a fairly large ovarian cyst that caused me to take a pause in my running. The same week, it was determined that Lee has Planter Fasciitis and concluded that his foot wouldn't heal enough to be able to train for the marathon. I tried to run my 10 miler on Sunday and had to have Lee pick me up 2.5 miles in. I had run 9 the week before without batting an eye and then couldn't even run a 5k. I was devastated and humiliated. The reality of what this cyst may cause was starting to set in: this thing isn't going to go away overnight and it hurt too much to run with it.
Early in my training, I had a few discussions with our pastor, Dana (who is a multi-marathoner), about my marathoning plans. He discouraged (on SEVERAL occasions) running 2 marathons in 8 months. Dana had been out of the country and caught me a few hours after my failed run, at the right vulnerable moment, to give me another amount of encouragement to forego the full marathon and to run the half marathon instead. What he said to me, for the first time in months, made sense. My ultimate goal was to run the Disney Marathon, in its entire 26.2 miles of glory. Many studies suggest that it can take up to a year for your body to recover from a marathon. So, why jeopardize not being able to achieve my goal because of a "practice" marathon. The nail in the coffin was when he said that he didn't think I realized what stress running a marathon puts on a person's body; much less 2 marathons in 8 months. The thought of all of the time I would be losing of spending time with Nina during the peak of marathon training also began to weigh heavily on my mind. I wrestled for two days about what i thought I was going to do, and have decided that for once I am going to listen to the advice of those who have paved the way ahead of me.
So, here's to half marathon training (or mini-marathon, as they call it at the Derby) and running the full Run Disney on January 6, 2013!
Smart move! :) It is a TON of time in the peak of training, and you'll be so much better prepared after training for a half to start your training for the full. You are going to do a great job!!!
ReplyDeleteLove your blog. :) So much fun to read. You are a blessing.