wandering mind

I participated in the Baltimore Running festival on October 16th and ran the half marathon. It was a perfect day for running and I was full of nervous energy. I was told to walk the first mile or two to warm up since I was dealing with a hip injury. So I ran the first three miles as fast as I could. What can I say, I got caught in the energy that is there at the start of such things. Things slowed down after that. Come mile 7 there was more walking then running happening. I practically limp-walked the last two miles. To make a long story short – I finished the event in 3 hours – about 30 minutes more than my goal time. But I did finish it on my own and didn’t have to be carried off the course – so I am happy with that outcome Last time when I did the half marathon it was so hot and miserable that I told myself never to do it again - I guess 'never' amounted to two years because I forgot the misery and decided to do it again this year. This year the weather was so good, if it wa...

You know I try I really do To quit that glass of wine with dinner But I am being guided otherwise Today at the end of my seven mile run When I reached the dead end Where mighty Oaks and Maples stand guard They seemed to smile down upon me A crooked smile That seemed to want to say something They asked the wind to carry their message and the wind rustling through their branches whispered to me and I am not making this up I really am not the wind whispered to me "Good job on the seven mile run today It wasn't easy to find the time to do it But you did it now go home and treat yourself to a glass of wine " " Really ?" I said " But I have been told to hydrate with water after runs " " Nonsense " it said I swear it did " You can't believe everything you hear Go with your own gut feeling And do what feels right " So who am I To ignore the wisdom Of mighty Oaks and Maples Who have been around longer than me So here I am in the post ru...

I am not a runner by any stretch - I do the run walk thing. I have walked one half marathon, run -walked another half marathon, and run-walked a few 10Ks. Why do I run? If I run, I don't need to take my hypertension medicine - my blood pressure stays low. If I run, I am in a cheerful mood all the time and stuff like sink full of dishes and the laundry that is not put away doesn't bother me as much. If I run, I am a better mom to my kids. If I run, my kids and my husband become more active without me having to say anything. If I run, my body shrinks even if I don't lose much weight. That's fine - but I could just run a few miles several times a week - why do I need to run half marathons? Because a lot of people I know think that I cannot do it - and one of the greatest pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do :) Because the idea of doing something that majority doesn't do appeals to me. Because the great feeling of crossing the finish line at 13.1 mile...

Very, very slow , but I finished it - yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaah I wrote all about it here -

All of us training for an endurance event through Team In Training have been asked to consider a mission statement : Why we decided to join TNT? Why did I join TNT? In summer of 2005, when I was first asked by a friend at work about signing up to run or walk a marathon and raise money for leukemia and lymphoma society, it presented two impossible tasks in front of me - me running? and me raising $1600. $1600 sounded like an impossible amount to raise and 26.2 miles sounded even harder. Why did I join TNT? Cancer is a dreadful word. It is an unfortunate truth that we all know of someone whose life was untimely taken by cancer. My husband was only 19 when he lost his mother to this disease. My grandfather was the healthiest person I knew. At the age of 60 he used to walk 6-8 miles a day and eat healthy vegetarian meals - but cancer did not discriminate and took him away as well. Then I would hear of so many little children being diagnosed. Children? That is so unfair. I would see pictur...

Most mornings when I get up and find it raining outside visions of crawling beltway flash through my mind - " the traffic is going to be horrible again " " the puppies are going to drag all kinds of mud through the kitchen floor again " " oh maaaaaannn ".... ....but not so this morning. You see, for the past 6 days straight I have been getting up at 5am to fit in a 2-3 mile run/walk before work. I am trying to build some stamina for when the real training for the half marathon starts in two week. I try to run and walk - with each day, increasing the amount I run. Yesterday I was able to fit in several workouts during the day - I ran in the morning, had another 2 mile stroll at lunch time because my lunch buddy became overly enthusiastic about walking for some reason, and then came home and pulled weeds for an hour and a half (it is my task all summer as I won't let my husband spray any chemicals). I finally went to bed at 11 and then one of the puppi...

I have decided to participate in the Baltimore Marathon on October 11th. I am so excited and so scared.Well, it is not new to me. I had participated back in 2005. That time I had signed up to walk the full marathon with Team in Training . Every Saturday morning I met a group of 25-30 people at 7 am who were all participating in one of the marathon events that summer or fall. The first day we walked 4 miles and we were to gradually increase the mileage each week. As the weather got warmer and warmer, it became harder and harder. But I wasn't alone. I was training with Jane and Molly and we got to know each other really well. I remember in the beginning we used to talk all the way from start to finish. But as the miles got longer, we used to sort of run out of stuff to say around mile 10. I could not believe the day I walked 18 miles that I had actually done it. When I was driving home after the training, I remember thinking that 18 miles is a lot to even drive, and I had walked it...