Entering the last training week before the marathon.Went out for my last long run of 8 miles on Saturday and my left knee IT band (which has been bothering me) flared up. Blech.
Talked to my coach/brother and made a plan for the week that I hope will give my knee a chance to recover and enable to me to complete the marathon on Sunday. I have the best coach in the world and one of the great things he said today was "Ang, this is just the beginning. Not the end." In other words, I'm a runner now. This is an important race, but not the end all. It's not as if after whatever happens a week from today, I'll put the sneakers back in the closet and never wear them again.
I can already tell that this is going to be a looong week of waiting around for Sunday to arrive. Going to try to keep busy, take care of my knee, keep focused on the prize at the end - I just found out every finisher gets a medal when they're done! I love medals! Who knew?! I got one after finishing the 1/2 marathon I did last fall and it's super special to me. It reminds me of the hard work it took to get it and somehow seeing it gives me an immense feeling of accomplishment and makes doing hard things in life easier.
Do hard things. It's something I've been saying a lot lately and I'm pretty sure annoying those closest to me by repeating way too often. But really, what a great mentality to have in life!
The date of this race - 10/9/11 - holds special significance for us as the day that we got some difficult news about our son 5 years ago. He's doing great now, but much transpired since that date and I've found my heart & mind processing a lot while running and training for 10/9 - my first marathon.
Running releases much more than just sweat!
I never know who actually reads this blog, but whoever you are - thank you for following along. My prayer is that by seeing the ups & downs of this process, you will be inspired to do hard things too and find the blessings I have found in doing them.
Hebrews 12:1-3
I absolutely LOVE medals :) And dates...that's part of what inspired me to run Mohawk last year - it was run on 10/10/10. Just cool.
ReplyDeleteI wish you a fantastic run and a smiley finish.
I see runners training in this area often in their 10-10-10 shirts from last year and really wish I'd done that race JUST to get that shirt! What a great race on a super cool date, Lisa! Thanks for posting your encouragement!
ReplyDeleteAngie,
ReplyDeleteWOW I could not have connected the dots with the race date and the dx...I can't imagine what work the Lord has been doing as you ponder the last 5 years while your pounding the pavement. I'll pray for you this week, for a healed knee and a finished race...and a sparkly medal at the end.
I hope your knee doesn't bother you and that you have a fun first marathon. Soon, you'll be a marathoner!
ReplyDelete