The Anti-Running Runner

I've been MIA on this blog for a while. My focus has been writing and editing my fiction efforts, but I promised to share my first marathon adventure, so I'm finally going to do it. AIR: My First Marathon Disney January 2009. It was the week before my wedding. No lie. Seven days after running my first marathon, I walked down the aisle and married my best friend. I DO NOT recommend this to anyone. Wedding time frame part, not the marrying best friend part. That I highly recommend. In my defense, I signed up for the marathon prior to getting engaged. The wedding date worked out best for whatever reasons. I can't even remember why now. The six months leading up to the marathon/wedding were probably the most stressful of my entire life. Marathon training takes so much time and energy. So does wedding planning. On a positive side, most of my family came to cheer my marathon finish because they were already in town for the wedding. That was a huge blessing. My dearest...

I had planned on doing a twelve miler tomorrow. I get off work early on Fridays, so it gives me time to finish before dark. While arranging my schedule, I decided to get the twelve done before the long weekend (my dedicated writing weekend, see writing blog ). So last night, I split up my twelve into a ten and a two. I changed after work (my usual routine), and ran the downtown St. Pete waterfront route that I love. Beforehand, I planned to do eight miles. Because it would be getting dark by the time I finished, I would leave and run four more around the park near my house. Something happened, an extremely rare occurrence for me. I felt so good that I decided to keep going and do ten miles. Thank you, Jesus, for those moments! It makes me feel like a real runner. As my last blog showed, more often I have to do LESS mileage than I plan, and walk when I don't plan on it. There were probably a hundred people running along the waterfront, which makes me h...

The conflict: to run or not to run In the time leading up to the Halloween Halfathon and the Women’s Half, I trained pretty well. At my speed, of course, but I was putting in the mileage that I needed to feel good for a half. After the Women’s Half (as noted in the last post), not so much running going on. A few days here and there, but not much mileage. The St. Pete Rock N Roll is not until February, so it’s been easy to push running off in the midst of the holidays. About four days leading up to Christmas day, hubby and I spent time with my family and new niece in Georgia. It was such a blessing, and we celebrated the birth of Christ together with a lot of great food and more great food. It was cold and rainy, but hubby and I managed one short run during the visit. The trip involved nine and a half hours of driving time each way. Friends and family took care of our animals. We dropped off/picked up animals on the way, adding to our travel time. Sadly, I believe ...

No, I'm not referring to the Honey Bucket visits from the last post. Horrible runs meaning extremely difficult jogs. My last few runs (a six and a couple eights with shorter distances thrown in there) have been quite challenging. I blame the heat (seriously, it is KILLER here), but I also blame my lack of talent as a runner. And my inability to get up early. I don't have "it" like some people do. But that's okay. It's not a complaint. I do have perseverance, so that's in my favor. But getting back up to higher mileage is such an ordeal for me. As a 10-12-minute miler, it takes a long time for me to get some of these runs done. I guess this is one of the reasons why I'm the Anti-Running Runner. While in Georgia meeting my new niece (!!!) I got a chance to run in my sister's neighborhood two weekends in a row. I've mentioned before how much I love running there. Here I am doing one loop around her neighborhood (about 4 miles). It was ho...