Restless

It seems like a miracle, but for once, there is nothing I'm training for. I feel lost. It's like there's no purpose for working out, but I just do it anyway. I think it hasn't helped that I've been home for 3 weeks, and let me tell you - it's hard to run at home. It is soooo cold. It's mostly the wind though. The wind is the biggest problem. I proved in Memphis I could do cold, but I can't seem to put on enough socks to fight the wind. I tell ya - these running shoes aren't very warm with all their fancy mesh.

The running at home is lonely at times. I kind of like being out in the country with just my tunes and the dirt road, but after training with Marc and the Boardtown group, the long runs seem a little lonely.

Country running has been nice at times though. I had an amazing run before Christmas. A feeling I've tried hard to recapture on the same route, but I guess it was just one of those days. A runner knows about "those days". The day when it feels like you could run forever and never get tired and you have to force yourself to stop because at some point your rational part (the part that tells you it's -1 with the wind chill and you have the flu, so maybe just 3 miles today) tells you to stop or you'll shatter a knee.

I was treated to a "warm" 45 degrees the other afternoon, so I went for a gloveless run, and it would have been great if not for the freshly plowed roads. I may not be able to rub a ribbon with my hands, but I can tell with fine accuracy if the soil beneath my sneaks is more silt than sand, and this road is almost pure silt. Like running in cocoa was all I good think as I plodded along (into the wind of course, because in Oklahoma you're always going in to the wind regardless of which way you're going).

I know I do it because I love it. There is no other explanation for why someone would put on two layers of everything (even the ear muffs) and venture out into 30 mph winds and freezing temps for a slow easy run. But it snowed 2 inches tonight. I think I'll draw the line there. It's not good to love too much.

Blisters Don't Need Chemo

This weekend was the race! And boy, was it cold. 26 degrees. Normally, you could still be warm in those temps if you were running, but thanks to the wave start, I spent about an hour or more just standing around freezing. I have never been so happy to start running 13 miles in my life. Until I realized my feet were numb of course. It was like running on blocks. I could not feel my toes or feel my feet rotating. I suffered for this on Sunday because my ankles and feet were very sore. Fortunately, other than stiffness and a mild hip pain, that was the extent of the woes. Well, except for the patch on my back that is always chaffed. Marc said he could tell the exact moment the shower reached that spot because he heard me whimpering through the walls at the hotel.

The run was great though. Cold temperatures aside, the warmth of the fans and runners was overwhelming. The race started with a St. Jude child singing the National anthem. What struck me was that this child was not a good singer. She was quite bad. But people were moved to tears nonetheless. Corral #9 was pumped to get to the starting blocks. We jumped and cheered and waved our arms, and then they told us we could go and the chirping of chip tracking was at a frenzy.

The run is nice. You run around the Pyramid, along the river, down Beale St., through St. Jude's campus, through Overton Park, and down Poplar, until you arrive at Autozone Park where you circle the infield for the finish. Highlights of the course would be running through a tunnel by the convention center because they have a band playing and it is LOUD!; running down Beale St. because it is so festive and there's music and people everywhere; running through St. Jude's campus because the kids and parents are lined up and they're shouting "thank you" as you go by; and running into Autozone Park because that means you're done!

Of course no race is complete unless I have senseless musings to record. Neat things I saw:

• A girl with a shirt that said, "Win or Lose, I'm Just Here for the Booze."
• A couple in matching shirts that said, "We're doing this for our son." And had his picture and his birth and death dates.
• A gorilla and a chicken singing and dancing the chicken dance on the side of Poplar.
• A sign on the St. Jude's campus that read, "Blisters don't need chemo."
• A panda welcoming me to the zoo.
• A guy in a shirt that read, "I want to kill your weeds." He was not a weed scientist. I asked. We did know some of the same people though (it's a long race; you get to know folks).
• A woman being carried by 2 friends at mile 10. Apparently she locked up her already delicate hip at mile 8 and they toted her to the finish for a 3:02 time.
  

I also saw a guy in the ambulance with road rash on his whole face and blood at a water stop where we were told repeated to "mind the ice." Perhaps he was responsible for protecting the rest of us.

One other not cool thing that happened - a girl died. She collapsed after finishing the half. I imagine this was hard to watch. Many families and friends sit at Autozone Park and wait for their loved ones to finish and she would have collapsed right in front of them. They're withholding her name and age, but the prevailing rumor is that she was 32. She loved running, but had a heart problem. You sign all kinds of waivers for even a 5K, and it never dawns on you that it's anything more than a formality, just like picking up a t-shirt and pinning on a number.

So Team413 - I finally said OK and did it. Team413 is a non-profit organization of Christian runners. There's not much to it. Simply put: you wear your shirt (bought at a slightly inflated price so that you are essentially giving to a charity) at the race and if someone wants to talk to you about your faith, you just share your journey with them. I had put this off because I was not sure I wanted the responsibility of strangers looking at me and my imperfectness and saying, "well if that's how Christians act, I don't need to be one." So many people have negative feelings about churches, Christians, and religion because they see bad examples everywhere of what they would call hypocrisy. Acknowledging I have faults, I did not want to be a stumbling block for someone. But when I saw the shirts came in pink and black, I was won over. No, that wasn't what did it, although Marc had already figured out when I said OK that I was going to reach for the pink one. I guess I am imperfect AND predictable.

3 Days to Go

I'm starting to get scared. Monday night I bent over to pick up the trash and my knee popped. Now my knee hurts. I can't believe I could train for 10 weeks and then hurt the knee now by taking out trash! I tried running on it today. It hurt half a mile into an easy run, but seemed to get a little better by the second mile. Let's just hope it holds up.

And of course, I'm sick. Sick!!! UGH! I thought (hoped) it was just allergies from being home, but it's not responding to Zytrec, so today I upped the ante and $30 later, left with cold medicine, cough drops, zinc lozenges, kleenex, and canned soup. The shear cost alone should make me feel better I would hope. :)

I'm not going to quit. I will not give in. I've got 2 full days to get healthy, and I will be healthy. St. Jude's is depending on it! Well, not really; they've already got my money. I'm betting they don't care if I actually run. But I do.