I finished up this week a little over 25 miles and I’m feeling great. Overall, I’m extremely happy to be running again yet also very antsy to ramp up the mileage. I’m taking it really slow and adding mileage gradually, with the goal to keep my foot healthy (and everything else of course). My core work and strength work continues to go well also.
The summer temps arrived a few weeks ago and have remained above 100 degrees every day. Thank goodness at 6 am when I start my runs, it’s a beautiful chilly 70-75 lately ☺ I LOVE it and I feel at peace out there running and enjoying my time to think, de-stress, visualize, get pumped for my next marathon, etc. ☺ Which by the way is going to be the New York City Marathon!! Woo hoooo!! I am extremely excited because I have raced the marathon back in 2008 and my two races thus far this year in NYC have gone really well. I’ll spend 3 weeks in NYC this summer and again in the fall for the race I’ll be there for two weeks for the marathon and to go see my sister race at her Big East Championships and NCAA Northeast Regional Championships. Yay!
I look forward to racing an incredibly fast, gutsy, strong, tough and exciting 26.2 miles on November 7th, among the best women in the world (and being a part of another women’s USA National Marathon Championship, which NYC is hosting in conjunction with their regular elite women’s field). I remember wanting to cry on the bus ride to the start line in Staten Island in 2008. It feels so incredibly special and overwhelming to be on one of maybe 3-4 busses filled with the best male and female marathoners in the world, while the sun gradually rises and police cars and motorcycles give us a special escort over to the start line area. The streets and bridges in all 5 boroughs are pretty quiet and empty while spectators get situated on the sidewalks before 40,000 + runners start to race through. Having the all-women elite start is pretty special too; this year I’ll make sure I run fast enough to not have the lead men catch me with a mile to go like last time! Haha. The next 19 weeks I am sure many memories will play over and over in my head and I can’t wait for that bus ride again this year….until then though, I have a lot of hard work, suffering and sacrifices to make.
Speaking of hard work, suffering and sacrifice, I’ve been struggling a bit lately while thinking of ALL my goals I have for myself. Plain and simple, from the 800 meters all the way to the marathon and even cross country, I want to get FASTER (and finish high in big races obviously)! I know it takes time and I can only focus on one “A” race at a time, yet being patient has always been a weakness of mine; I like to see instant results, HA. I think watching all the amazing and inspiring races at the USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships the past few days has made me just want to get out there and race fast! It’s been way too long ☹ It’ll be here soon enough though…gotta remember to enjoy the journey…
If you live in the Phoenix area or ever visit. you HAVE to go to Luci’s in Phoenix on the NW corner of 16th St and Bethany Home Rd….DELICIOUS!! I went there this morning with a friend of mine, had the best French toast of my life ☺ and a very large (32 oz) vanilla latte, LOL..yum yum. We hung out for a while and it’s a cute, fun place to be with tons of people there all the time!
Quote for today (that I really need right now): “Manning up is refusing to let anxiety, fear and suffering steer you away from what you know you really want as an athlete. The ability to man up is hugely beneficial to performance, of course, and I also think it’s the essence of character.”
pic: Me racing NYC in 2008.
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