The journey

Wow! I cannot believe how long it has been since I last posted. I am slacking off. The last time I posted, I had no idea how I would be feeling in my near future...and I think I am getting better. Well, I am crossing my fingers, at least.
I am still running injured, but I feel like I can manage it now. I have been stretching a lot more, and icing it after every run.
In the past few weeks, I have also been getting down on myself for not running as quickly as I was in the beginning, but I am starting to accept what my body is doing and learning to be okay with it. I am a two-time half marathon runner, who just decided to run a full. I do not need to get the best time ever, I should be okay with just finishing, right? Well, I am slowly starting to come to this realization.
Conrad is now running with my beautiful pink Garmin because I was becoming obsessed with the watch. Although I was hurt, I was still trying to maintain an average pace of 8:00 min/mi, and that was not okay! I do not know what I was thinking, although I know that it must have been my competitive side...which I have been fighting with my whole life.
Anyway...our goal is starting to turn into: "JUST FINISHING THE RACE." Then I pause after trying to be okay with just that...and I whisper, "IN UNDER 4 HOURS." Conrad doesn't like that too much because he is starting to get annoyed with this aforementioned competitive side of mine. Oh well, I will learn what my body can handle. I know I started off too fast 'for me' though. It is all a learning experience.
The second annual One Run for Boston is coming up. We will be doing 13.5 miles on March 22nd, and I am excited to run for this cause. It sounds like there are a lot of great people who are participating, and it will be fun to meet them. Please visit: http://www.onerunforboston.org to learn more.
We were looking forward to running in Oregon so much, but not enough that we thought to get the tickets WAY in advance, oh no. We were too late, and so we had to sign up for a different race: The Surfer's Path Marathon in Santa Cruz, CA. I hope that it is just as beautiful, but I am sad that we were not able to get into the Newport Marathon.

This past week we ran 12 miles, at a decent pace: 8:42 min/mi. I was happy with it because we had an elevation climb of 470 feet. I think if we can continue this pace throughout it will be perfect, but I cannot expect every run to be the same. Like today for instance, I felt like crap running four miles. I asked Conrad, "How in the world can I feel like this when I felt awesome after running 12 miles on Sunday?" I just don't get it...but I guess it is all part of the journey...and I am finally beginning to understand what it means to be a runner.
Strong heart + strong mind= strong body

Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do. -Bruce Lee