Cheer Me Up Post
This post is a little, 'Hey Stephanie, Isn't life GRAND?!' kind of post...just what I need today.
I am officially, (like RIGHT NOW) deciding, I will not be running the Philly RnR Half this year. And while it saddens me to go to a race and just watch others whiz by, I get excited at the fact that I can be a support crew for Helen, Jake, and Rob on their first ever Half Marathon. (And I absolutely LOVE watching the elites do their thing, which you mostly miss when you are racing yourself. They are just so gracefully fast!) I believe that everyone should have someone they know in the crowd cheering for them at their first major race...not just some random cheerleaders or spectators.
It's a hard pill to swallow, and I've been trying to gain perspective on how in the long term skipping this race will lead to great things down the road.
Scenario. I'm at a bar, all sadface about realizing I will not be racing this weekend. Then a friend comes and asks how crazy I am. Hm. What an odd question, eh? I could answer this many ways. I say halfway. Find out I'm all the way crazy because he proposed running the 50th anniversary race of the JFK 50 Miler in November 2012, and asking me was the only convincing I needed.
Milestones:
June 2010: Began running
October 2010: First race ever - Jazz Half Marathon
September 2011: First trail half marathon
October 2011: First full marathon - Marine Corps Marathon
September 2012: First 30 mile trail race (First ULTRA!) - Iron Mountain Trail
November 2012: First 50 mile race - JFK 50 Mile
Now, to go about this 50 mile race over a year from now, I will attempt to make the qualifying times to get in the best spot possible. Otherwise, you bet your sweet self I am raising that charity $500 and running this anyway. At least, that's the plan. The course goes through the AT and C&O, and also back roads. Should be a good time, good combo of terrain!
So in the scheme of things, skipping this half marathon is not the end of the world. It is the beginning to so many other things that I need to keep my ankle healthy for. Do I feel a little like this ankle injury has given me too much time to think/reflect/come up with potentially really awful ideas? Maybe. But I have already done more in the past year as a runner than I ever imagined just because someone asked me to run that first race. How is this any different? Maybe I can change my name to Stephanie Ultra Walker. Heh heh.
Will I potentially back out after I experience my first 26.2 in a little over a month? Maybe, but unlikely.
Time to educate myself on proper nutrition, training plans, etc to get me exactly where I need to be a year from now!
Disclaimer: If you are reading this and feel the need to tell me this is impossible/stupid/irresponsible/ anything negative, please save it for someone else, or talk about me behind my back because I do not want to hear it. Thanks.
http://sites.google.com/site/ironmountaintrailrun/Home
http://www.jfk50mile.org/
Why I think this is a brilliant idea:
http://www.extremeultrarunning.com/1stultra.htm
I am officially, (like RIGHT NOW) deciding, I will not be running the Philly RnR Half this year. And while it saddens me to go to a race and just watch others whiz by, I get excited at the fact that I can be a support crew for Helen, Jake, and Rob on their first ever Half Marathon. (And I absolutely LOVE watching the elites do their thing, which you mostly miss when you are racing yourself. They are just so gracefully fast!) I believe that everyone should have someone they know in the crowd cheering for them at their first major race...not just some random cheerleaders or spectators.
It's a hard pill to swallow, and I've been trying to gain perspective on how in the long term skipping this race will lead to great things down the road.
Scenario. I'm at a bar, all sadface about realizing I will not be racing this weekend. Then a friend comes and asks how crazy I am. Hm. What an odd question, eh? I could answer this many ways. I say halfway. Find out I'm all the way crazy because he proposed running the 50th anniversary race of the JFK 50 Miler in November 2012, and asking me was the only convincing I needed.
Milestones:
June 2010: Began running
October 2010: First race ever - Jazz Half Marathon
September 2011: First trail half marathon
October 2011: First full marathon - Marine Corps Marathon
September 2012: First 30 mile trail race (First ULTRA!) - Iron Mountain Trail
November 2012: First 50 mile race - JFK 50 Mile
Now, to go about this 50 mile race over a year from now, I will attempt to make the qualifying times to get in the best spot possible. Otherwise, you bet your sweet self I am raising that charity $500 and running this anyway. At least, that's the plan. The course goes through the AT and C&O, and also back roads. Should be a good time, good combo of terrain!
So in the scheme of things, skipping this half marathon is not the end of the world. It is the beginning to so many other things that I need to keep my ankle healthy for. Do I feel a little like this ankle injury has given me too much time to think/reflect/come up with potentially really awful ideas? Maybe. But I have already done more in the past year as a runner than I ever imagined just because someone asked me to run that first race. How is this any different? Maybe I can change my name to Stephanie Ultra Walker. Heh heh.
Will I potentially back out after I experience my first 26.2 in a little over a month? Maybe, but unlikely.
Time to educate myself on proper nutrition, training plans, etc to get me exactly where I need to be a year from now!
Disclaimer: If you are reading this and feel the need to tell me this is impossible/stupid/irresponsible/ anything negative, please save it for someone else, or talk about me behind my back because I do not want to hear it. Thanks.
http://sites.google.com/site/ironmountaintrailrun/Home
http://www.jfk50mile.org/
Why I think this is a brilliant idea:
http://www.extremeultrarunning.com/1stultra.htm
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