Running The Race

With special permission from my Dad, this post is coming straight from “the daughter.”

I trained, ran, and completed my first half marathon yesterday. (YEAH!!) But, as I look back, the accomplishment was not just crossing the finish line, it was all the training that I did throughout the past 4 months. I  made the decision to run Tom King in November, but I had to decide everyday since then to run, to train, and to lift weights. Essentially, I decided to run Tom King 121 times. And to me, that’s as much of an accomplishment as finishing (if I do say so myself). It is about the journey.

It’s about the conversations that I had with my Dad on long runs–conversations about our week, observations we’ve made, frustrations, running pains, singing “I Feel Good” in the park on mile 7, the funny things that happened, and what it looks like to transition into “real life” with bills and a rent payment. Even on those runs when we didn’t have “meaningful” conversations, it was the “quantity” of time that we spent together, that leant itself to “quality” conversations later in the week, running or not.

It’s about the running metaphors for life–running through the pain, not avoiding it, not letting it get the best of you, just knowing that pain is part of it. –As my Dad told me after a hard run, “Pain is temporary, but quitting lasts forever.”

It’s about being healthy and feeling good about yourself.

It’s about taking your first Goo, putting on your first pair of Balega socks, and eating a Banana at the end of a long run.

It’s about the people that you meet along the way. The people at the Y that know you as the “Half Marathon Girl” because you run in circles on the track for an hour. The friends that ask about your training, I mean really ask and care about your response. The friends and family that get up early on a Saturday morning to cheer and watch you cross the finish line. The buddies that turn around and come back for you after they’ve already finished the race.

And so, to you, I say thank you, because you were part of the journey. You were there with me throughout the journey. You posted comments on this blog, encouraging me. Thank you for the support that you have extended to me throughout this journey.

This entry was posted on Sunday, March 16th, 2008 at 7:39 pm and is filed under General, Race Reports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.