Eight Days After CIM


Not long after completing CIM, I pretty much told the story of my marathon in pictures via Flickr. I've been slammed at work and busy trying to return to an even keel after the emotional highs and lows brought on by the long race and by the season in general.

I am so very happy to have run the marathon, even though my time was less than stellar. My feet and calves cramped up toward the end, but I hobbled on in. I was 34th out of 43 in my age group. I'm proud to say that the 1st place runner is my friend, fellow team member, and also the kind person who drove me to Sacramento for the race. She's an inspiration!

Recovery has been a challenge. I've gone from feeling euphoric to feeling older than mud and back again to being high. Because I'm a glutton for the agony of distance running, I am training for the Oakland Marathon, which is in late March. Last year I did the Oakland Half Marathon and loved it. Anyway, last Saturday I went on a group training run but only ran 5 of the 9 prescribed miles. My right quad said, oh no you don't, so, I didn't. Felt glad to run; felt sad to hurt.

Tonight I was scheduled to go to the track for a workout but wimped out when it was pouring rain at 6 pm, the prescribed workout time. I drove to the gym in Emeryville and ran 3 miles on the treadmill instead. I had a bit of a breakthrough! I've always disliked treadmill running, and since I've gotten a little older have really disliked it because I've gotten terrified of losing my balance and shooting off the back of the darn thing and landing in a heap of broken bones. But tonight a funny thing happened. I started off very slowly, holding onto the side rail with one hand, even, and gave myself permission to be as much of a sissy as I felt like being. I started picking up the pace for 3 minutes and then dropping it down for 1, then repeating. At some point I realized that my balance felt solid and I wasn't holding on to the rail! I got into a good rhythm and was able to work up a good sweat.

I feel like I got to a good place on the treadmill mainly through positive thinking--I've been telling myself ever since CIM that I am strong and that I am an athlete. I've been reading George Sheehan, who has to be one of the wisest runners ever to put rubber to the road and pen to the paper.

This post has nowhere in particular to go--it's more a meander, a checking in with the space. At the top is a photo taken along the Embarcadero in SF a couple of days ago. Because you can view my marathon photos by following the Flickr link, above, I'm just sharing some winter leaves with you because I really don't think I'm allowed to create a post that doesn't feature a blurry phone photo.

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