21 Miles Down, 5 To Go

Yes, it's true. I went 21 miles yesterday! You'll notice I did not use the word "ran," because that would not accurately describe what I was doing most of the time, but, as my mentor Kelsey says, "Propelling myself forward with my legs through the cold for 21 miles is hard enough!"

Let me start by saying what I am thankful for this time...

The beautiful weather we had on Sunday, without which I might very well have convinced myself I didn't need to complete this run and gone home. Seriously, when the morning is cold and rainy, it just seems to get colder and colder the longer you're out there, everything on your body locks up much faster, and you get soaked to the core with wet feet that weigh about 10lbs more than normal. It's not pleasant, to say the least. So with weather just warm enough to not need a second layer, no wind, and beautiful sunshine ALL DAY, I was set up for success.

Laura, Katy and Kelly for texting me back all day (yes, I was texting while "running"). If not for those words of encouragement - "Go girl! You're already there!" "I am so proud of you, just a little more!" and (when my mp3 player ran out of battery with 2 miles to go [note: ALWAYS start a 20 plus mile run with a fully charged music player]) "Do you want me to sing to you? Cuz I will!" (Laura, you're a saint!) - I definitely would have taken myself seriously one of those times I decided to quit.

My neighbor who works at Luke's Locker and totally hooked me up with much needed new shoes, meaning that my ankles didn't feel like they were shattering until the last 6 miles, instead of the first 6.

The fact that this was our last long run!! We start our taper now, meaning only 12 miles next Saturday, and it's all downhill from there until January 17!! Woo hoo!!

Forget the rest, I'm stopping with what I'm thankful for this run. It was great. And I did it. I'm thinking of my marathon hero, the woman without whom I might not have ever signed up to run, Zoe Koplowitz. I don't know this woman, but I read about her last year and her story stuck with me, even before I was considering running a marathon. She has MS and diabetes and ran the NYC marathon on CRUTCHES!! She went on to run 22 marathons so far, and holds the world record for Slowest Marathon Runner Ever. This is the link to her website, http://zoekoplowitz.com/Home_Page.html, and if you want to hear her story told beautifully and powerfully, pick up a copy of Cynthia Kersey's Unstoppable Women next time you're in the book store. It's just a couple of pages long, and it will change you. I don't aspire to Zoe's heights of 24 plus hours, but it reminds me that what matters is sticking with it and crossing that finish line.

And we can't forget the donation reminder...I have 1 week from today to raise $107.20 to meet my minimum, so please consider donating, even just $5. It will really help LLS do what they do, helping patients, survivors and their families live and thrive. I have more and more people in my life who are being diagnosed with these terrible diseases, from Manila to my own backyard, and anything you can donate would really help their journeys. Here's the link to my page where you can donate:

http://pages.teamintraining.org/txg/houston10/aclack

I leave you with the quote we hear all the time at Team in Training.

"If you think running is hard, you should try chemo."

Thanks, everyone!