4 miles down....lots more to go!

Again, I survived my latest weekend workout with the team. This past Saturday, we were up in San Mateo at Seal Point Park...right along the Bay, running alongside the airplanes flying into SFO.

When I first started training 5 years ago for the Portland Marathon, I had it stuck in my head that I had to "run" the entire thing. I was letting myself down if I had to stop for a break or stop to walk for a bit. Boy, was I silly for thinking this.

My second marathon, the San Diego Rock 'n Roll Marathon in June 2005, I really learned my lesson the hard way. After a season of running with my partner in crime, Cori, she was injured the week of the marathon. So, all of the planning of how we were going to tackle the course, what we were going to talk about during the race....thrown out the window!!! I actually had to run the ENTIRE thing by myself. I think that I was in a daze when I got to the start line that morning - still thinking that Cori was right beside me pushing me to keep running. While I was running with a sea of people, Cori was not there and I had to keep pushing myself. There were many times I wanted to give up and just stop, but when I remembered all of the money I had raised and all of the honorees that I had trained for, I knew I had to keep going however long it took.

That day, I ran about 14 or 15 miles and pretty much walked the remaining miles. For the first time I had blisters between my toes and felt completed depleted of all of my energy. That day, I gained a deeper appreciation for walkers. Yes, people actually sign up to WALK half and full marathons. For so long I just figured I needed to run to finish quicker and get on with my day.

So, fast forward a few years and now I think that I am going to go for a COMBINATION of the two...Run/Walk. For the first time, I actually disciplined myself this past Saturday to pay attention to my watch and force myself to run 4 minutes, then walk for 1 minute...repeating this cycle over and over until I had completed 4 miles. Perhaps it was my 3 teammates (Angela, Eileen, and Sean) who were relying on me to tell them when to run and when to walk. Or, perhaps it was the feeling of happiness finding others who ran at my same pace (now that Cori and I live miles apart, we haven't been able to run together in years). Whatever it was, I FELT GREAT during and after my run/walk! I swear, I felt like I could keep going for another mile or two!

So, for this race in October my game plan has changed. I'll be running (most of the time) and walking (some of the time) to keep me balanced and to get me across that finish line.

Here's to another great track workout tonight!