My Own Private Holiday – Marathon Monday!

I’m pretty sure my new manager and coworkers would not understand if I profess Monday the holiday I know it is.   After all, I’m now living in NC, where Patriots Day is not celebrated and the Boston Marathon is not as highly revered.  No fear, I’ll be representing Boston even though I’m physically far away! 

• I’ll wear my jacket from my first running of Boston in 2010
• Better yet, when I enter work that morning, I’ll place my jacket on the back of my chair for all the world (or at least my immediate coworkers) to see
• I’ll most definitely run on Monday! 
• I’ll likely find myself super motivated and sign up for Umstead 100 some little race
• I’ll peek in on live streaming whenever possible (thank you technology!)
• Most fun of all, if I can’t be running….I’ll stalk runners who are running Boston this year via the Athlete Tracker J

And although there won’t be any Boston Marathon fanfare where I’m living now, I think my company does have a little Boston Marathon in them……at least based on the blue and yellow flowers planted at the front entrance AND this car parked in the lot today (get it….BQ###!!!!) –

Happy resting and hydrating friends who are running!  I’m excited for you!

Crawling my way back!

April 4^th signified one month since uprooting ourselves from MA and moving to NC.  That month included the road trip to NC, my first days/weeks at my new job, a business trip to IL on my first day, finding my/our way around our new city, and helping Bella acclimate by finding some areas that she loves to romp around.  That month did not include the endless list making, the packing, and the anxiety over what we were tackling.  We’ve been in go-go-go mode since late January, when we listed our house in MA until just recently when we unpacked our final box.  With all of that go-go-go, running took a back seat.  Let me rephrase that:  running took a seat in the trunk!  I am now in that uncomfortable place of crawling my way back to a fitness level that makes me feel strong, both physically and mentally.  It’s not easy and it’s not fast, but it will happen. 

Last night, I re-watched the great video Scott put together of my Ghost Train run.  Not only did re-watching it give me a good shot in the arm from a running perspective, but it also gave me an incredible lift as I reflected on my awesome friends who were such a big part of my success there, and who I miss terribly.  Watching it also awakened some hunger pangs.  I thought back to how strong I felt, how confident I felt, and how positive I felt.  I’m hungry for that.

Which then lead me to registering for some races!   In a couple weeks, we’re running Rocky Fest10K, which is a trail race intertwined with a music festival.  This past weekend, a new work friend and her boyfriend invited us to join them on a ‘trial run’ of the course.  It’s a decent course, with quite an ascent up a bald face section, culminating with a breathtaking view from the top.  I may bring my phone, since the view is too nice not to capture.  

As we’re becoming more acclimated to our new area, we’re discovering more trails, more races, and more like minded people who don’t look at us running and gasp, “What are you running from?!”.  We’ve also become friendly with the local Fleet Feet peeps (and have contributed generously to their profit margin) and joined them on one of their Saturday morning training runs.  Today, I registered us for CharityChase Half Marathon which takes place in our new city.  This will likely be my last race before I turn 50.  I’m not putting a lot of pressure on myself to win the thing, but I’d love to leave my 40’s on a high note. 

TableRock Ultra is another race I’ve had my eyes on.  They’ve done away with the 50 miler this year, but 50K with ~6000 foot climb is still a pretty daunting challenge! 

So, there’s plenty to do, see, explore, and run.  Oh, and crawl.  Lots of crawling going on as I build back up to where I know I feel and operate best.  Sore, tired, hungry all the time…..combined with happy, clear headed, positive, peaceful.  Yup, I'll take it. 

I hereby embrace my inner crawl.