Dreams

Ted and I have officially started marathon training.

And with the official start of training comes the onset of my running dreams.

I often dream of running, but especially when training and/or races are on the mind. And, like my imagination, the dreams are not simple, basic dreams. There is a story, or suspense, or action, involved.

Here is an insight to Maggie's mind on some of the better, and more repetitive, of my running dreams:

1) The Basic Running Dream--This dream I have often when I'm deep in a training schedule, or had a series of not-so-good runs. In this dream, I am normally in the town where I grew up, and I am running around town. The catch? I don't get tired. I don't get winded. I run, and I run, and I'm going fast, and I'm going far. And, in my dream, I'm thinking This is awesome! I should be tired now, but I'm not!

2) The Broad Street Dream--I have this dream within a week or two of Broad Street, each of the past two years I've participated. In this dream, I'm running Broad Street. The catch? I get lost. Now, for those of you who are familiar with The Broad Street Run in Philadelphia, it is like any other big run--virtually impossible to go off the path. Especially since the path is a straight-shoot down Broad Street in Philly. But in this dream, I'm off on the side streets and not sure how to get back. I can hear the people cheering, and it's getting dark, but I keep making wrong turns and remain lost.

3) The Marathon Dream--I've had this dream twice, as well. The first time was when I first realized that I could do a marathon, that it was physically possible for me to train and complete the race. The second time was last week, when we were resting up for the beginning of training (nice excuse for a few days off, dontcha think?). In this dream, I am running the Marathon. I assume it's Philly, but there is nothing specific in my dream to point that out, so maybe it's best if I say I'm running A marathon. Anyway, I'm running, but the race is not just any road race--it is Marathon meets Amazing Race. Participants have to run the full 26.2 miles, but they need to find clues along the way, and gather items. In this dream, I am always just a little behind a group of people, and catch up to them on an especially hard clue. We're working together to solve the clue, and I realize I know the answer. Once I come to this realization, I find the next clue (secretly, without anyone knowing--it is a race, after all). I find it, take off, and win the race. Well, I won during the first dream. The second time I had this dream, I'm not sure what happened because I drifted into a dream about sports cars and hockey.

Sports cars and hockey??? Where did that come from...