Running

My cousin Kim has the coolest blog. I love it. Kim writes about her experiences with running, cooking, and with life in general. These are all things I can COMPLETELY RELATE TO, mainly the cooking and running parts. Cooking and running are both hobbies of mine. I am obviously much older than Kim and much less hip than she is, but reading Kim's blog has made me think about expanding the things that I write about here.

Sometimes when I am running I think about how I would write about the experience - if I were to blog about my running - on this page. I have come up with actual tag lines and story ideas before reminding myself that I don't blog about anything but the children. And then I think that maybe I should rethink that? As much as I love writing about Amelia and John - they are really the highlights of my whole existence - I could probably use another creative outlet for my energy with respect to other stuff that I enjoy. So I have decided to experiment with expanding my discussion here to other topics, mainly running and cooking, besides the kids of course, because that is what I am made of these days.

Today was about the seventh week of running in my training for a full marathon. After having run eight half marathons in the past three years, I have decided to try and push myself to run a full. Of course, many have done this successfully before me (My lovely cousins Kim and Kelly - you are my heroes for your wonderful story about running Erie last week!), but this is my first full-fledged attempt at running more than 13.2. I joined a local training group for the benefit of having support during Saturday long runs and during the week I train on my own. So far this has worked well. Today was another good group run.

We did 13 miles this morning, which was somewhat comfortable given my experience with half-marathon races. Not to say that it was easy - NO WAY, IT WAS STILL TOUGH! - but during every single minute I felt like I could finish and that the distance was an achievable goal. I actually am coming to enjoy how my legs ache and I feel tired several hours after finishing the Saturday long runs, strange as that sounds.I hope that I am this optimistic when we are running 18/20/22 miles on a given Saturday, which will happen in the next few weeks as we get into October. But for now, having finished 13 OK, when it is 75 degrees outside with 80 % humidity, I can take it. I can't wait for cooler weather - long-sleeves, what's that?!? - and I hope that my performance improves accordingly.

Fridays (day before long run) and Sundays (day after long run) are my off days, so I can look forward to sleeping in as long as my body will allow tomorrow. Historically, and sadly, this has been no more than 7 a.m. since having children and getting up early to run, but that's OK. Tomorrow promises a special treat, hopefully a call from John about the new baby. Laura is scheduled for a C-section early Sunday morning. Thoughts and prayers going out to her tonight! I can't wait to hear about my new niece/nephew in the morning!