Tuesday, January 15, 2013

OHMYGOSH I'm So Nervous!

Wooo! It's a mere five days until my first marathon in three years! Are you scared? You should be, and here's why. I want to break 4:00:00. It's a huge goal, HUGE. Picture a cumulonimbus cloud with the words "four hours!" printed on it in large fluffy letters, attached to me by a string, floating above my head everywhere I go since October. Yeah, that's what it feels like. I'm in great shape, I've stuck to my plan, I've lost a few pounds, I didn't miss any long runs, and my pace is where it should be.

Why the fear you ask? Because now is the perfect, most lesson-bestowing time for God to say from on high, "Whooaaaaa, back it up Spooky! Quit feeling so proud and self righteous! You wouldn't even have legs if it weren't for Me!" At which point I get struck by lightning or contract Hepatitis or what have you so that I can learn humility.

All perfectly true and valid. I know the truth is that I could never do this distance running without all the blessings I've been given (strong legs, spare time, safe neighborhood, supporting husband, great friends). It's easy to think it's all my hard work that's gotten me here, but how far would I get without those blessings? YEAH.

To bring my point to a close, something inside my foot hurts. I want the goal, but I might have to be okay with not getting there because my foot is wiggety wack, and I have to be okay with that. It's a privilege to be healthy and I'll enjoy it either way. Right? Right. BUT I REALLY REALLY WANT IT.*

I went out and bought a new outfit for race day. It's a clown-colored rainbow of brightness. Luckily I decided against the rainbow socks.

Do these pants make my butt look fa(s)t?
 
Believe me when I say the tights are a bilious purple!  I took them out for a test run today to make sure they have the most important elements: No chafing, no riding up and down, and no visible crotch sweat patterns. 
 
There's another bonus to this outfit, too. When God decides that I'm too prideful and causes me to trip at the starting line and be trampled by tens of thousands, and you're watching the news that night with the headline Marathon Mayhem, you'll say:
 
"Hey, that's Christy Albers!....I recognize her Clown Pants!"
 
Simplicity of recognition. It's what I strive for. 
 
I hope you have a great week, folks! Tune in next time for the results show.
 
Does it count as carb loading if it's five days early?

*Please note that this is not one of those preemptive thingamajigs where I fail utterly and then come back and point out "I SAID my foot hurt, it's not my fault!" I'm just MENTIONING it is all.

 
 
 

Saturday, January 5, 2013

This is why I like running!

Today is exactly why I like running.

Except for this!:
Cheap Socks: At Least They're Green

Don't worry, I finally bought real socks and threw these away. But back to my point...

I was grumpy and irritated this morning because some annoying things happened. They were out of my control, but they still made those little glands shoot chemical stress into my blood stream. But around 1:30 I went for a run. It was chilly but sunny, and I headed out for 4 miles in the park. 

There was a light breeze so fall leaves were scattering across the path. People were playing frisbee and fishing. Little kids were riding bikes and skating. I saw some kind of  Native tribal dance happening, and even the kids were in costume and participating, so cool! Other runners said hello. And as I ran, the stress of the day was pounded down through my quads and calves, out the balls of my feet into the ground.
Training for distance runs is hard, grueling, time-consuming and sometimes tedious. There are rewards, sure. But a 20-mile training run is not fun in any way. Being done with it is nice. Having accomplished something difficult is great. A marathon is thrilling, rewarding of course, and satisfying. But it hurts from head to toe, mentally and physically.

Sometimes, you have to set aside the training plan and the goals and timing and pace and just...have fun. And that's what I did today.