Looking Ahead
Yesterday I did run the Oakland Running Festival Half Marathon. I felt under-trained and, because of that, extremely nervous at the race's start. (Note: Click on the photos to see them larger.)
I needn't have worried. What a great race! Well organized, with a smörgåsbord of neighborhood sights and sounds for all of us, slow and fast, to enjoy. So much fun that I (almost) forgot how much work I was doing. We saw all kinds of bands.
My baseball team was well represented by some hard-core fans.
In West Oakland we ran under a flaming arch, courtesy of The Crucible, a nonprofit arts education center.
And just when we were all about out of steam, with only three-plus miles to go, we got sprinkled with fairy dust by an official emissary from Children's Fairyland.
I came in 11th in my age group, but got the same medal as those ten people who finished ahead of me. Who could ask for more?
Well, I could ask for more. From myself, that is. The more I am asking for is related to the title of this post, "Looking Ahead." It came to me on March 22, the thirty-second anniversary of my very-first-ever-in-my-life run, that I've now been a runner for more than half my life. Along with that thought came the realization that this activity that has become so much a part of who I am feels like it will go on forever--but it will not. There were 39 women in my division, the age 60-64 bracket. In the next division, the age 65-70 group, there were 15. The division after that was called 70 and over, and consisted of 2 women. Hmmm.
I am not into doom and gloom. Me, Debbie Downer?? Not. All I'm saying is that, in general but particularly in regard to running, I do need to look ahead. I need to ask what I want to do in the years I have left. If I can answer that question, I need then to determine how can I go about getting it.
Yesterday after the race it came to me that I want to run more than I am running right now. I want to train smarter. I want to enter more races. I want to have more friends who run. I want to be a better, more active member of the running community than I am now.
I began this blog in 2005 (!) without an articulated purpose in mind. I was intrigued by the idea of the blogosphere, a phenomenon that came to my attention about the same time I was feeling the urge to write about this crazy heel-and-toe activity that I'm so in love with. As the blogging has lurched forward, periodically I've declared I want to write more, I want to talk about training more, I want to focus on nutrition more, I want to take better pictures. All these things are all still true; they just feel a little more urgent than they did before yesterday.
If you've hung out with me in this space a little or a lot since 2005, or even if reading this right now constitutes your first stop here, I invite you to check back now and then. More, I invite you to check in, that is, to use the comments feature. Tell me what you do or don't want to do regarding running (or anything else that comes to your mind). And tell me what you think I could do to become more focused as a runner and as a person who just declared what she wants to do.
I needn't have worried. What a great race! Well organized, with a smörgåsbord of neighborhood sights and sounds for all of us, slow and fast, to enjoy. So much fun that I (almost) forgot how much work I was doing. We saw all kinds of bands.
My baseball team was well represented by some hard-core fans.
In West Oakland we ran under a flaming arch, courtesy of The Crucible, a nonprofit arts education center.
And just when we were all about out of steam, with only three-plus miles to go, we got sprinkled with fairy dust by an official emissary from Children's Fairyland.
I came in 11th in my age group, but got the same medal as those ten people who finished ahead of me. Who could ask for more?
Well, I could ask for more. From myself, that is. The more I am asking for is related to the title of this post, "Looking Ahead." It came to me on March 22, the thirty-second anniversary of my very-first-ever-in-my-life run, that I've now been a runner for more than half my life. Along with that thought came the realization that this activity that has become so much a part of who I am feels like it will go on forever--but it will not. There were 39 women in my division, the age 60-64 bracket. In the next division, the age 65-70 group, there were 15. The division after that was called 70 and over, and consisted of 2 women. Hmmm.
I am not into doom and gloom. Me, Debbie Downer?? Not. All I'm saying is that, in general but particularly in regard to running, I do need to look ahead. I need to ask what I want to do in the years I have left. If I can answer that question, I need then to determine how can I go about getting it.
Yesterday after the race it came to me that I want to run more than I am running right now. I want to train smarter. I want to enter more races. I want to have more friends who run. I want to be a better, more active member of the running community than I am now.
I began this blog in 2005 (!) without an articulated purpose in mind. I was intrigued by the idea of the blogosphere, a phenomenon that came to my attention about the same time I was feeling the urge to write about this crazy heel-and-toe activity that I'm so in love with. As the blogging has lurched forward, periodically I've declared I want to write more, I want to talk about training more, I want to focus on nutrition more, I want to take better pictures. All these things are all still true; they just feel a little more urgent than they did before yesterday.
If you've hung out with me in this space a little or a lot since 2005, or even if reading this right now constitutes your first stop here, I invite you to check back now and then. More, I invite you to check in, that is, to use the comments feature. Tell me what you do or don't want to do regarding running (or anything else that comes to your mind). And tell me what you think I could do to become more focused as a runner and as a person who just declared what she wants to do.
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