Lucky Thirteen
Mood:  celebratory
Topic: Marathon
I managed to walk/run thirteen miles for only the third time ever tonight. Hans and I took Brendan to see Madagascar yesterday and to Spinners for dinner, and then he got to have his first sleepover at our house--we figured if we were going to get that in, it would be easier when he lives two minutes away than when he lives 90 minutes away, so we wanted to have him over before we moved. I knew that by the time he woke up and I made him breakfast and took him to the pool, it would be impossible for me to get in my morning run, so I planned to run this evening. The heat made it difficult, and I admit, I walked more than I ran, but I got the mileage in. On weeks where I'm increasing distance I figure the emphasis is on musculoskeletal adaptation anyway, so if I can still walk and I'm not having an asthma attack at the end of a long run, I'm pretty happy. Tonight I got in a very long workout at a fat-burning heart rate and I feel the way I did after the first day of my three-day stationary cycling fundraiser at the movie theatre in Lynnwood--wouldn't it be nice if I could somehow manage to drop 10 pounds tonight the way I did that weekend? (The hard part is realizing that in the time I spent walking/running 13 miles, I could have done 60 or 70 miles on the bike!)

The other great thing about tonight is that I got through the mental barrier of doing 13 miles. I felt so awful after the half-marathon in 2002, I was actually scared to try another 13 tonight. Because I didn't push the running this time, I didn't have an asthma attack and I think I'll be able to move pretty well tomorrow.

What is becoming clear to me, though, is that my time is not going to suddenly improve. Maybe if I had lost fifty pounds before I started training instead of trying to do it while I'm training, I might have been able to shave several minutes off my mile. But I think that realistically now I'm looking at seconds and not minutes. At this point, a sub 6 hour time would be a miracle, and I should probably be happy if I finish in less than 8. I was living in D.C. the year Oprah turned 40 and ran the Marine Corp Marathon in 4:39. Maybe if I do the marathon every year until I'm forty, and take an hour off my time each year, I might be able to match her time when I'm 40. Sure would be nice to have Bob Greene to drag me out of bed every morning and force me to run and have Rosie cooking all my meals.... I'm pretty sure I really need a coach pushing me to see any real increases in speed. The thing about Oprah's experience is that, yes, she turned in an excellent time for a first marathon and looked fantastically fit, but she hated it so much she says she will never do another marathon. I want to finish my first one looking forward to my next one. If this experience totally sucks, I will probably never attempt Ironman, and I want to be strong enough to finish Ironman.

I've promised myself that my reward for finishing this marathon is a dance class. I miss moving my body to music! I've let my weight keep me from really enjoying and inhabiting my body, and I've decided it's time for that to end. Besides, when you are training for endurance events, it's a good idea to take some time off from your sport(s) in the winter and engage in a different mode of fitness. I'm trying to decide between a salsa, hip hop, or jazz class. Jazz will always be there and feels kind of outdated. Hip hop might be awful because none of those moves are intuitive to me. Salsa may be just what I need--especially if it means I also get to buy a hot, red dress and wear high heels and feel like a girl. I miss feeling like a girl.... Although, today, I had a little pink on my cheeks and on the tip of my nose and gold streaks from the sun in my hair and my eyes were sparkly and I felt like the outdoorsy, summer girl was coming back. The outdoorsy, summer girl is good!