Marathon from heaven: Clearwater
After running three marathons that went from bad to worse, I thought it must be impossible to enjoy a marathon.
I'm overjoyed to be proven wrong. Of course, training and eating right makes a difference. The right shoes make a difference. Some of those things affected my previous marathons, and I finally learned what my body wanted to eat, how it wanted to train, and what shoes were best for me.
A lot of prayer has gotten me through each of my marathons, and there is something wonderful about how terrible they were before Jan 19th. It's much easier to say that in hindsight, of course. I had to rely on Jesus, lean on him, draw strength from him in my weakness. It's a great place to grow.
From the moment I started distance running in college, I became the Anti-Running Runner. It was this burden that I knew I had to carry if I wanted to get through any of my jogs. There were always things that helped, like running with Alyssa and other family and friends. But it's always been hard for me. So much harder than I thought it should be for anyone.
For example, my best friend, Hea, started running shortly after I did. When we started, even in my slowness, I was faster than her. But it didn't take long before she was speeding off and leaving me behind. Not in the way it sounds because she would usually stay with me if we raced together, but if not, her times became much faster than mine.
Most of my family members are fast runners (fast meaning under ten minute miles and ranging all the way down to six and seven minute mile range).
I'm not competitive when I run. But it's been hard to struggle through running for years while feeling like I've made little progress.
Until now.
Something happened within the last year or two. I wasn't speeding up incrementally as I had in the past. I was speeding up quite a bit. For me (I must qualify as it's all relative).
After my major PR at the Police Appreciation Run 10K, I started noticing that my training runs were not as challenging as they used to be. When I trained with hubby, Hea, and Mike for the X-Country Marathon, I was keeping up with them better than I ever had before.
That marathon was horrible, and there was no getting around that. It was horrible for everyone there. But in my heart, I knew I could beat my 6 hour marathon time if I just kept working at it. And that's why I decided to run the Clearwater Marathon.
That and it was free.
Coming up next: the details of the Clearwater Marathon and the finish time that left me speechless.
I'm overjoyed to be proven wrong. Of course, training and eating right makes a difference. The right shoes make a difference. Some of those things affected my previous marathons, and I finally learned what my body wanted to eat, how it wanted to train, and what shoes were best for me.
A lot of prayer has gotten me through each of my marathons, and there is something wonderful about how terrible they were before Jan 19th. It's much easier to say that in hindsight, of course. I had to rely on Jesus, lean on him, draw strength from him in my weakness. It's a great place to grow.
From the moment I started distance running in college, I became the Anti-Running Runner. It was this burden that I knew I had to carry if I wanted to get through any of my jogs. There were always things that helped, like running with Alyssa and other family and friends. But it's always been hard for me. So much harder than I thought it should be for anyone.
For example, my best friend, Hea, started running shortly after I did. When we started, even in my slowness, I was faster than her. But it didn't take long before she was speeding off and leaving me behind. Not in the way it sounds because she would usually stay with me if we raced together, but if not, her times became much faster than mine.
Most of my family members are fast runners (fast meaning under ten minute miles and ranging all the way down to six and seven minute mile range).
I'm not competitive when I run. But it's been hard to struggle through running for years while feeling like I've made little progress.
Until now.
Something happened within the last year or two. I wasn't speeding up incrementally as I had in the past. I was speeding up quite a bit. For me (I must qualify as it's all relative).
After my major PR at the Police Appreciation Run 10K, I started noticing that my training runs were not as challenging as they used to be. When I trained with hubby, Hea, and Mike for the X-Country Marathon, I was keeping up with them better than I ever had before.
That marathon was horrible, and there was no getting around that. It was horrible for everyone there. But in my heart, I knew I could beat my 6 hour marathon time if I just kept working at it. And that's why I decided to run the Clearwater Marathon.
That and it was free.
Coming up next: the details of the Clearwater Marathon and the finish time that left me speechless.
I'm so glad we could do this together, I can't wait to read the whole story!
ReplyDeleteMe too! I'll be putting up the next post ASAP. Love you, Lyssi!
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