A Rock 'n' Roll Fantasy

A few people had asked me about the marathon and if I was disappointed that I didn't meet my goal of 5 hours even or less. I don't know why this question should surprise me, but it does. The first person to ask me that question was my former personal trainer. Do I look disappointed in the above picture? I'm not trying to be Ms. perky sunshine, or whatever, but I wasn't disappointed at all. I was more disappointed waking up marathon morning with the cold symptoms escalated, and disappointed that I couldn't get the Live Tracker on my phone to work. I was disappointed that my hubbie's timing chip quit working after the first 10k. The facts are that I came with in 2:47 minutes of meeting my goal and I crossed the finish line. I'm not trying to make the Olympic team or place a world record. It's just me, doing this for me, and nobody else. Ironically, time IS on my side. I still cut 11 minutes off of last year's time, and about 28 minutes off of my first marathon time. I PR'ed all of my splits. I'm progressively getting faster. Sure, I was fatigued even before I got into the higher miles, and I had several conversations in my head about "what am I doing?" The stubborn runner in me didn't want to quit for a cold, and this was the big day. I did my thing. I wasn't alone, though. At the last mile, I walked with a young lady who said she had trained to run the marathon in 4:30, had knee problems and was hobbling and trying to jog to the end. She was just happy to be at that point in the race, knowing that the finish was just around the bend. The Rock N'Roll Marathon is one big party, 26.2 miles long, sore limbs and all. I was thrilled to be at the finish line and see the clock time at 5:11, knowing that my chip time would be better. I'm always happy to receive that medal around my neck.

The couple of days after the marathon, my cold overtook any muscle soreness. There wasn't much I could do about it, but rest. A visit to the chiropractor was a tremendous relief, and a pedicure was like heaven. I'm on the mend, finally, back at work, and I'm looking forward to a 3 day weekend at the beach for my birthday on Saturday.

Peace