Did you read my post from February 16th? I did. Just now. Oh wow, I am such a horrible person. Did I do any of what I said I would? That would be a big NO. Do I still feel the same way? Eh, yeah, sure. No really, I do still feel much the same way but overcoming the procrastinator in me is hard. Life got busy, you know? We bought a new house and moved. Huge undertaking that pretty much put everything else on hold. So what happened race wise since I last blogged? Well, I finished marathon number two (North Olympic Discovery Marathon) with a dismal finish time but a new friend who helped me run the 2nd half of the race when the heat was reducing me to a sloppy, messy, puddle of defeat. I am so thankful for race angels! Instead of feeling defeated at the end I felt jubilant and strong, despite my slow finish time, which let's face it, is not uncommon for me. I am a turtle in the running world. I did the Seattle Marathon in November of 2011 and finally hit my goal of beating 5 hours. I came in at 4:55:19 (see, turtle). I was thrilled with that time considering the weather conditions that day (rain & wind - still preferable to heat) and the hills the last few miles. It's not an easy course but I loved it enough that I'm currently training for the 2012 race as my 4th marathon. I also did my first triathalon, something I once said I would never do. It was the Cottage Lake Tri put on by Mary Meyer's Life Fitness. It was a super sprint distance so it was super short. I had a 400 yard swim, 9 mile bike ride and 1.6 mile run, the perfect beginning distance! Actually, a slightly longer bike and run wouldn't have bothered me any but the swim was perfect in length. Any longer and I may have needed to hitch a ride on a turtle's back, if we were in the ocean. We weren't. I was the turtle in the water. I've also signed up with a running/triathalon coach, Mary Gandee, of Blue Fire Fitness. The triathalon was the instigator in that fitness cost. I knew I needed help with the swim portion. I was the child pushed off the diving board in swim lessons. Yes, there was only a mild amount of emotional scarring from that event. I joined her group for a few open water swims, took a few private lessons from her swim coach and managed to mostly back swim my way to the exit out of the water. All that open water swimming practice, which I actually kind of liked, and come race day I couldn't calm my breathing enough to swim properly on race day. Sigh. Next time!
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| Getting a High-5 from my son at Seattle |
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| Me exiting the water - phew, done! |
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| Finishing my first Tri with a huge smile. Whoop! |
Now you're caught up on my big race events since I last blogged. What's on the agenda for the future? Well, I mentioned I am training for the 2012 Seattle Marathon in November and so far, so good. My next big goal is to find 3 more marathon's over the winter/spring months and get my Marathon Maniac qualification before the unofficial Marathon Maniac Reunion at the Tacoma City Marathon in May. What are Marathon Maniac's some of you may ask? It's a group of crazy people who run enough marathon's to qualify as a maniac. Yes, you have to qualify by running a crazy amount of marathon's. For me that will be 3 in 90 days or 2 in 16 days. I'm not sure yet which one will be the more difficult route, especially since I will be throwing in the TCM marathon after I qualify and that 3 in 90 days will wind up being 4 in 4 months. Can I do it? I hope so! The club is growing quickly in numbers and I figure if all those folks can do it, why not me? Hopefully, my training with Mary Gandee will help! She's good for way more than just swimming. By the way, my race angel from NODM is a Maniac. In fact, she's a 50 stater working toward 100 marathon's. Last I spoke with her she was at 67 but that's probably an old number by now. Go Jodi! She'll be at TCM and I'm looking forward to seeing her again.
I'm also hoping to improve my swimming over the next few months so I can attempt a few more tri's this summer. I don't like running in the heat and tri's will allow me to swim in cool water and ride a bike with the cool breeze blowing on my face. The hot running portion will be short in distance. Tri's are a pretty big deal for me with my dislike of swimming. Seriously, my first swim lesson we spent the entire first hour simply practicing putting my face in the water. I felt like my 9 year old and not the almost 40 year old woman I was. It was humbling. The bike portion isn't much easier for me. I don't like traffic and my sense of direction stinks chicken turds. Yeah, don't ask me where that expression came from - I think I just made it up and it seems to do the job so it's staying. Anyway, I hate driving in a car for those reason's. Ask me to drive to Seattle and I will panic, ask me to drive anywhere I'm unfamiliar with and you will see my knuckles turn white with fear, stress, tension etc. So, if I'm like that in a car imagine how I feel on a bike! Yeah, it's not my favorite. I did most of my training rides on the paved Centennial Trail. I only ventured onto open roads once, around Mercer Island, with some friends from the Luna Chix tri group. Thank you, thank you, girls for getting me out of my comfort zone in a safe and fun way! So why am I doing tri's? I will conquer these fears, that's why! I will be the strong woman God made me to be and I will overcome. Now, to take that attitude and cross it over into my non-athletic life. Can I overcome the fear of putting my writing out there for all to see? Can I overcome the fear of rejection? Can I overcome the fear of failing? In racing, in writing, or in life in general we will never overcome if we don't reach beyond our fears. So I'm reaching high today and I'm trusting that God has his hand already stretched out to me, ready to pull me up. I read this verse the other day in my daily devotion and it struck a huge chord with me. "Yet I am always with you; you hold me by my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will take me into glory." Ps 73:23-24. According to this, I have nothing to fear.
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