Reflection

Today's run is not worth mentioning. I won't discuss how my legs did NOT want to run, despite the warm-up I gave them. I won't discuss how, since running can be so mental for me, I turned around and went home in preparation for the 10-mile run this weekend. I won't discuss any of that.

What I do want to think about is the feeling of absolute awe I had when I watched this year's winner of the Boston Marathon wear the ivy crown. His final time was what I would consider a goal time for a half. His time for the final miles were faster than my time if I go out and run a mile as fast as I can. And he looked about as winded as I do when I come back from getting the mail.

The marathon races help me set my goals straight. They put me in my place (suddenly my 6-mile doesn't seem quite the accomplishment I thought it would be...kind of like imagining yourself on Earth in the Universe), but at the same time it gets me re-focused. "There, Maggie." I find myself saying. "That's what you want to do". I don't want to turn crazy with training though. I still value my time and my Husband and don't want to be a crazy Free-Moment-Gotta-Run kind of person. There has to be a happy medium between training for a marathon and still having something called a life. I'll find it. And when I cross the finish line five hours later, sobbing my eyes out (the jury is still out on if the tears will be from pain, delusion, or self-pride), well...I guess I'll have to decide what to do next.

Congrats to all the marathon runners out there. Someday I hope to be there next to you (and I have the nerve to say this on a day when my legs protested a 5 mile run).