Travel Log: August 19, 2012

While the three and I filled our lazy summer days with hiking and downtown adventures, I still had to carve out time for keeping up with the running plan for my (first ever) upcoming half marathon. 

Again, I am not a runner. To this day, I am a person who "runs", but not well, and not with skill, and definitely not fast. I have no natural ability for running like my husband and middle child. If you watch them run, they look like gazelles, barely touching the ground, as they effortlessly move past you at speeds of under 8 minute miles. (And that's at high altitude! Oy!) For me, running is a physically hard challenge and has never come easy. I think I summed up running and me best when I said years ago, "...in my mind, running is by far the most painful experience/exercise known to my body and henceforth, s-u-c-k-s." No joke. Well, actually, it is a funny joke between dear, old friends and me, :)!

If my fading memory can recall 15ish years ago... It was a foggy, early morning when a group of girlfriends wanted to go for a run around the college's cross country track and for some crazy reason that I can't remember, I opted to join them. I don't think I ran longer than a handfull of minutes, but I do think I complained a lot, and I also think I may have said something to the effect of running being straight from hell. Well, maybe not those strong of words, but I definitely gave the strong impression that running and I were not friends. To this day it makes my friends and I laugh about the fact that I "run" now. No really. I just received an email from one of those sweet girls the other day and she mentioned it and I totally laughed out loud becuase she is so right. Hahahahaha, :)! Silly Dana.

Another joke about me and "running" is what I listen to while I run. Back when I started, I listened to Josh's iPod. Because our music library was so small back then, I primarily listened to various NPR station podcasts, like This American Life or Radio Lab. Then somehow I happened upon the Insight for Living podcast. Timed with me spiraling in despair, the Insight for Living podcasts addressed some of the issues I had been struggling through - forgiving, loneliness, taking responsibility for hurts, leaving a church, parenting struggles, finding truth, loving people, marriage, depression, etc. During every run, something said would cut so deep I would be in tears while running along the road. After every run, I had learned something, it changed me for the better, and, truly, I had grown as a human, a wife, a parent, a friend.

If anything, this podcast keeps me running to this day. It still cuts deep, it still makes me cry, and I'd like to hope it still makes me a better human. People have tried to get me to listen to other podcasts or books on tape, some so strongly and often, my simple response of, "I just like this one," doesn't do it for them. While I'd like to believe they are simply trying to give new suggestions thinking I may be bored with it, I struggle with feeling like they are criticizing my choice. But even listening to it the other day on my run, it inspired a desire in me to pursue more art in my life and to get back into writing this memoir. Once again, I am thankful for this simple podcast.  

But back to running! :)!

I couldn't run if it wasn't for Josh and the three's HUGE encouragement. The time required each week for the weekday short runs and weekend long runs, adds up. Back then, if they didn't join me on runs or Josh didn't carve out his schedule to watch the kids while I ran alone, none of this could have ever happened. Though the majority of my training was done in IA at 700 ft elevation, the half marathon I had signed up for was at 5300 ft elevation. Yes, I ran much slower at elevation and yes, I did vomit once or twice along my training runs, possibly due to the elevation. Thankfully, overall, I feel like I benefited from having 2 weeks of training time at elevation before the race.

My sweet friend Molly came down from Estes to run with me and complete her second half marathon of the summer. The day of the race was beautiful and we chatted it up the whole course, with her husband and my family cheering us on at different points. When I finally reached the end, it was so fitting that my sweet girl ran out and grabbed my hand to cross the finish line with me. They were such a huge part of this accomplishment. My run wasn't speedy and it wasn't in perfect form, but I have to admit, I was in awe of what an infamous running-hater like me had just done.

While because of this, that, and the other, I did take a break from "running" for a time after my first half marathon, Molly and I were schemeing. Since she had run a very fun Estes Park Half Marathon, she wanted to try the Estes Park Marathon for the next year and I, for some crazy reason, wanted to join her. I found this in my Photos, dated a few days after the half marathon. Obviously, I had solidified that decision fairly quick, :)!

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