The Kid is All Right

I cannot believe it's been almost 2 weeks since I've updated my blog. That's the longest I've ever gone. Really, the most I've ever gone between posts was maybe 3 days. This is a sign of how things have been.

Things have been rough. Just really busy with work, coaching, home life, yoga teacher training, etc. I kind of feel like I'm drowning. But this is the last day of teacher training, so hopefully I will start to get back to normal soon.

I've been having some kind of emotional block with my running lately. I just do not feel like running. I run with my groups, and it's always great. I look forward to running with them tremendously. But all other runs just don't interest me. I have been trying to figure out why. I was looking through my running log for the last couple of years to see if there were any patterns. Do I always get like this in the fall? Has this ever happened before? Etc. Well, the thing that I noticed was that there was a definitely loss of mo-jo this summer. I was doing well until about mid-July. So, I was trying to think about what was going on and it hit me. All the crap that had been going on this year was catching up with me: my grandmother dying, Archie dying, my mom's illness, Keller's issues at school and me trying to find him a new one, work issues, the list goes on. It really came to a head in August. I had floundered at the NYC Half Marathon and was really low. I then had my own health problems, and while everything is fine, I just never recovered emotionally from it all. I didn't stand a chance at Chicago.

I'm writing about this because, as you know, running is a very big part of my life and when it doesn't go well, it radiates through everything. It's a good example of the mind-body-connection. When the body fails, so does the mind. Well, for me anyway.

I have been thinking about the groups that I coach and how I invest so much emotionally with them. Really, I do with all my clients. And one of my groups, the beginning 5K group, just makes me so happy. They all make me happy, but this one is different. They are so inspiring and motivating because they are so excited by what they're doing. They've never run before and the fact that they can run now, and not pass out, is invigorating to them. They feel unstoppable. Was I ever like that in my running? I don't remember. I need to try and be excited by my running.

I just think I need to be "in the moment" more with everything, but especially my running. I need to focus on one day at a time, and not just on a particular race or event. I need to have fun so it doesn't feel like work. Because it was for a while. I've been training for something since December of 2005. This is the first time in 3 years I'm not training for anything. I can have fun and run because I love it. I'm not saying that training for something isn't fun and all that, it is. But I'm just burned out on racing. It's time to just run.

So, that's my rant for the day. I need to go prepare for my last day of teacher training. I have to teach a class and the thought makes me want to pass out. Yay!

Rock this Town

Let's take it from the top.

I woke up feeling good and ready. We met Amanda, Damon, Lynne, and Betsy. We all headed over to the start and were very excited.

Then we were off. We were feeling good and all that. It was very exciting. We saw our family at miles 1 and 3 and that was great. Everyone, runners, spectators, and volunteers, were all great. Then the heat kicked in. By mile 8 Amanda and I decided to just let it ride. We didn't want to kill ourselves in the heat and we wanted to have fun. We danced to all the music playing. We gave hugs to the singer of a band with a sign offering free hugs. I bet he regretted that. But we had a great time.

We saw our family again at mile 12. Keller was looking ill so that wasn't good. But we still hugged and took pictures and all that. It was fun.

I started having foot pain at some point, I don't remember when. I have foot problems in both feet that will most likely require surgery. They really haven't been an issue until recently. They've been bothering me mainly on my very long runs in the past couple of months. Anyway, that's the reason my race started tanking. Amanda was feeling yucky too so we decided to continue dancing and signing and having a good time.

We saw interesting things. Here is a list of some: a group dressed as Batman, Robyn, Supergirl, Batwoman, and the Joker. We saw a guy in a blow-up Sumo wrestler costume. We saw a sign that said "Poop if you gotta". We saw Elvis and some weird dude in a Frenchman costume with a sign that said, "Make baguette not war!". Gotta love it!

Time-wise this was my worst marathon in history! But Amanda and I had so much fun, the crowd was awesome, the other runners were great and the course was really nice. The things that made this race bad, the weather and my injury, were totally out of our control. I would definitely do this race again.

I met the womens winner as we were heading out for dinner. That was cool. And we saw Deana Kastor (the American woman who won Chicago a few years ago and the bronze medal in the Olympic marathon in Athens). She is a tiny woman.

Unfortunately now, Keller is sick with croup and we'll be heading to the doctor as soon as we get off the plane today. He was up all night and we had to do a steam bath to get him to sleep. My poor baby. UPDATE: went to the doctor and yes, it's croup. Got some meds and he seems to be feeling better.

Thank you to everyone for all your kind words and well wishes. My 7th marathon may not have been my best performance but it was sure the most fun. And you all have a lot to with that.

I don't know when #8 will be. I'm taking a break! Probably having surgery on my feet. But I'll be back. Ready to kick some ass.

BTW, this is my 100th post. Yay!