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| Running my first 50 |
The other afternoon I was talking to someone on Facebook and he said to me that I should run a 100 miles this year. All afternoon I was on cloud 9 with excitement over it.
I've always been the kind of runner who likes to take baby steps. I don't take any of my races lightly. I think about which ones that I want to do first and once I decide to do a race, I get very emotionally attached to the race. And I train well, rarely missing a day of training unless injured. I train on a similar terrain to the race. I also am very careful with the food that I put into my body, especially the few weeks leading up to a race. I put my whole heart into it. I also love to make contact with the other runners that are going to share in the experience. Now occasionally I have to back out of a race, normally due to an injury. Yet in February, it was due to a road looking like an ice skating rink. When this happens, I get depressed for a few days.
As most of my readers and friends know, I've run 6 marathon, 7 50 K's and 1 50 miler. Each run was exciting, a test of how far I can go and what I am capable of achieving. They are all wonderful experiences and I learn something new about myself each time. I grow.
Just as running my first 50 came at a time when I was truly ready. I mean at first the idea to run it was simply unable to enter my mind. It seemed crazy. But when the time came to sign up for it, everything felt right and I poured my whole heart, soul and energy into training for it. Come race day, I had 2 hours of sleep the night before, but my attitude was one of "I'm going to finish this or I'm going to die trying!" I was determined. People often ask me how I did it and I tell them how determination played the biggest part. I wanted to finish the race.
Now I am faced with a new challenge. I want to go further. I want to complete a 100. I feel as if the the opportunity is within my grasp and I'm reaching, yet I just can't quite reach it. But it's there, I can see it and I'm mentally ready. But, I'm waiting. Waiting for the right moment and the right race. It is within my reach.
I have been looking at a few options for my first 100 and one does seem right, but it will have to wait till 2012. I want to train correctly for it. I want to do it right.
So in the mean time, for this year, I will run a 50K in May, marathon in June and my 2nd 50, a trail run at the end of July. After that, I will re-evaluate my new goal of running my first 100 and it will be good.
"Let go of the past and go for the future. Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you imagined."- Henry David Thoreau
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