We Wander And Ponder

I saw this quote from da Vinci the other day and thought it was worth sharing. I have a feeling every runner would appreciate the sentiment, especially because we make ‘happening to things’ part of our lives.

Something to think about

After a big family lunch and two beers (ya know… To celebrate Christmas!) I decided a run was in order before the sun went down. It’s an unnerving feeling to be able to run down the center of a road with little to no traffic. If only it could be done in Chi! Indy is expecting 5-10 inches snow tomorrow so a snowy trail run may or may not happen. Either way I’m glad I treated myself to some Christmas miles. I hope you all did too!

I recently started reading Rainn Wilson’s book, SoulPancake, although I’m not really sure you “read” this book as much as “experience” it. It’s full of good thoughts, quotes, and questions that (yes) make you think. Winter is the perfect time to read something like that in my opinion.

I went to my first PT session last night. It sounds like after a few sessions, a couple quick targeted massages of my hip, a few days rest, and a prescribed strength program to make sure this doesn’t happen again, I’ll be “all systems go” to start Boston training. An entire week off (10 days actually… But who’s counting?!) did wonders for both my mind and body. I was stubborn and dramatic last week but I’m taking full advantage of the extra time and cross training this week. Hey, Boston, you better watch out.

-J

I went out for a lakefront run this afternoon and it was heavenly. I woke up at 6 this morning all determined to get out of bed and lace my shoes up. But then I saw the temperature and the tweets about the 11 degree windchill outside and decided to wait until this afternoon. I don’t always have the time to head out for a late afternoon run but when I do, I take full advantage of it. Looking forward to more runs like this in 2013!

I’m slowly but surely putting my thoughts together about this past weekend’s marathon. For those of you that don’t already know, I PR’d by 15 minutes!!! It may be awhile before I put the entire experience into words, but, for now, I’m happy living on Cloud 9 and reliving the race through the few photos Brightroom was able to snatch of me. Hope everyone racing recently had great experiences!

The hard work has been done. Now all I have to do is rest, fuel, and get to that start line. Tomorrow is going to be an amazing day!

I received this good news by email yesterday. I honestly don’t know if the news has sunk in quite yet. Last year, my only goal was to finish my first marathon. I surprised myself in a big way when I crossed that finish line in 3:32:53. I cried, I laughed, I tried to BREATHE just thinking about all the hard work I’d put into my training. We all sacrifice time, sleep, and social lives (at times) to run our butts off. Us runners are a hardcore crazy bunch! Wouldn’t have been able to accomplish a BQ or celebrate properly without the “running friends” (the best friends a girl could possibly have!) that are always there to encourage and support. Now I have my 3rd marathon on the calendar!

I had one of those “is this day ever going to end?!” Fridays last week. I was at Reagan National waiting for my flight back to Chi for a solid 6 hours. My client meeting ended early and there were at least 20 listed stand-by for all the earlier flight options. All I wanted to do was to go home. After a much needed brew with a coworker, I boarded the plane and 2 hours later I was home…. At 12:30 AM. On a FRIDAY! Needless to say, I was exhausted and couldn’t wait to crawl into bed.

The first thing I saw when I arrived home was a box shipped from Saucony. It was packed full of goodies and one very special pair of shoes. I’m a huge fan (maybe that’s understating it) of Saucony Kinvaras and their latest version didn’t WOW me. Thankfully, the brand took notice and tracked down a pair of the K2s for me anyway. It’s a special pair for me because it’s the exact same color and version I bought when I started to seriously dedicate my time to running last year. I even remember wearing them for one of my first treadmill tempos in February when it was probably 10 degrees outside. Looking forward to logging some miles on these bad boys in the next month, with just a few short weeks until Twin Cities!