This girl is 13 and ran a 50 mile ultra

This girl is amazing! She gives me hope for running my marathon if she can run 50 miles.

        So I am pretty much as trained up as I can be now for my first marathon. I have got in the 20 mile trail run, a 20 mile road run, two good half marathons in the past year plus a good number of other races. I have had fartlek training, done relays at the track, had time trials, ran up and down parking garages, ran the big grassy hill at the cross country track for repeats and done lots and lots of good long runs. I feel like i am as good as I am going to get for this and that worries me because I am not sure if I am good enough. One week more and I will be running 26.2 miles through the woods with my good friends. I believe I can make it but just hoping to be in decent shape when I am done with it.
     As I am running this morning through the cool woods I was thinking about the tattoo I will be getting in a couple of weeks to signify finishing my marathon. I have many designs in my head but the one I have most in mind is a trail with 26.2 in the middle of the trail or something like that.
   Who knew that long distance running could become my thing?? Would become my thing?? never woulda thunk it and yet here I am saying crazy stuff like "only 8 miles".......whoa.


7.MORE.DAYS.
YIKES

Real training...no foolin' cause I got hydration

I now have in my possession a hydration pack. YEPPERS. I now am taking long enough runs that I need to have at least a liter and a half of water with me plus lots of little pockets for Gu's and stuff which as of last year I had no idea what a Gu was. I have salt tablets so I don't get cramps. I just went shopping and bought 90% was protein. The guy at the lane said "you must be feeding an army!" I said NO just me...I am training for a marathon. Now I can say that. I am training for a marathon...and it is getting closer every day. But you know what?? I am not scared. It will be hard but I feel I can do it unless something unforseen happens plus I will have two good friends up there with me so I know I will be just fine. So now that I have all this stuff I want to run tonight. I am excited! This is the biggest thing I have ever done!

Heather takes a little run in the woods

So today I was in the woods with my friends.....having imaginary snowball fights while erupting into laughter born of a LOT of miles, a *little* summer heat going to our heads and the OH-MY-GOD-constant-buzz buzz buzz buzz (you get the idea) of the bugs. They swirl around me like I am King Kong on the Empire State Building and they are those annoying little planes...brrrrrr   brrrrrr. I think I might have looked like him too as I swirled my arms insanely and yelled at the bugs *I don't know if they even they speak English!*
But HEY former roly poly heather just did.....20 MILES. A couple of years ago I was NEVER seeing that happening..............ever. I thought wow if I get to where I can ride a bike to do my errands and walk more than I take the bus that will be great! now. WOW! and I couldn't do any of this without my great friends who encourage me, inform me, teach me how to do this since I am all new at it and just generally making me feel part of a big kinda family who I now feel I know better as time goes on.
  So here I am, who used to be as I put it..HUGEOPOLIS (a city unto myself) into an honest to God athlete! Athlete! Did i ever see myself as an athlete?? As a personal trainer sharing what I have found out with others and watching them get so happy as they meet goals: sharing my story and listening well to theirs.

and when it's all said and done....it's just fun to take a run in the woods among the sweet smelling pines, listening to frogs, deer, chipmunks, finding little treasures and laughing more than I ever thought I would while running this far.

running inspiration everwhere!

Well I am now counting down just over a month until my first marathon so to coincide with my training I am also surrounding myself with stuff about running. I am reading the book Mile Markers which was recommended to me by my good friend Christy. I have also started watching movies about running/marathons. I have seen Hood to Coast and tonight watched Spirit of the Marathon. I have many more running movies on hold at the library. This is always how I get ready for things that I am nervous about: I inundate myself with information, inspiration and it always gets me geared up enough that I can face what I am needing to accomplish.
So here I am in the month of July super training for the first time in my life..well at least since high school...and I feel so lucky to be here, to be alive, to be well...and am looking forward to saying I ran a marathon.

Inner dialogue

What I have discovered about running is that while running a long, solitary run I get so much thinking done. My mind begins to recite poetry to me, figures out how to deal with my friends' drama or work out negative feelings I woke up with. There is nothing like a long, empty road in the dark of dawn to bring out my inner poet. Fears and worries fall away as I listen to the early birds waking up and watch the scurry of small creatures running into the bush as I pass. I always come home with the best ideas and feel like I actually think better all day.

Running on....

 When I started running I had lost a lot of weight the year or so before. I had been taking Kickboxing and other classes at the Y and that summer I had just taken up bike commuting. I started running here and there by myself and was looking for people to run with. This instructor at the Y mentioned the Running Company and said “I think they have a group there.”

                 I was very nervous the first meeting and even the next few meetings. I did not know anyone and was socially awkward with people at first. But the BARA people were so nice to me and so easy to get along with that it wasn’t so long I felt I had a group of friends. I had not been part of a group of friends since adolescence really so this was a wonderful feeling to me. Then I decided to sign up for my first 5K last September. It was fun and I finished in 26.36 minutes which I felt good about.

                Well now I had caught the bug and wanted to run more races. In October I ran the Smith’s Sport and Shoe 3 mile footrace and got 1^st in my age group there! Then I ran the YMCA 10K and got second in my age group in that race. I was running with a guy from my group and I told him I was going to run the IU Mini half marathon and that I was anxious about it. He said “You just need to go ahead and run one and then you won’t feel anxious.” 

 I did not think any more about it and then found out he signed me up for my first half marathon without checking with me. Not only was it a half marathon but it was a trail run at NIGHT at the end of January. I took the challenge and ran it and it was what could only be described as a magical experience. The night air was cold and crisp. The forest was a fine place to be and as I ran I thought about all the things that had led up to this point in my life and was in wonder of it all. I looked across the lake while I was running and there were lines of lights weaving through the woods: Runners with our headlamps shining in the dark.

                So then I was off and running (pardon the pun) and so started signing up for more races. I ran the IU Mini half marathon and was able to do it in 1:57 which was awesome! I started running more trail races especially the DINO series which is a series of races by Do Indiana Off Road so it is all trails. I have run three DINO races and just love them. I took first in my age group in one of them and second in my age group in another one. Even when I don’t “kill it” in my time I am happy running in the woods even more than anywhere else. The woods calm me—keep my anxious competitiveness in check. I can distract from any pain in my body by absorbing all the green around me and breathing in all the fresh air free of car exhaust; the smell of hot asphalt and all the noises of town runs. It is just me and nature running side by side. I am grateful I can run now.

      It wasn’t long ago I couldn’t run, or bike, or walk very far. I have come a long way and there is still so much ahead of me.  I am giddy like a 20 year old just walking out of the house for the first time to go home to their very own apartment with their own furniture and food in their very own fridge. I am excited like a little kid on their birthday. Just to be able to enjoy life this way is such a great gift! I am no longer the sad, chubby girl I was. I am buoyant with energy and I glide along life now like water skiing. Everything is easier for me then it used to be. The wonder of a capable body is a never-ending one.

                    So now I have signed up for my first TWO trail marathons. I am scared but determined as I always am.  The first one is in August…not very far away. It will be 26.2 miles through the woods and it will most likely be hot and uncomfortable and unforgettable. I can’t wait to suffer through it and come out the other side a better person than I went in. The second is a legendary one with the runners here in town. It is called Tecumseh and is on December 1^st. It will be a good race to end this amazing year on.

I am filled with hope now. I am filled with joy now. I love my life. I want to live this life on and on and on. It is the best thing that has ever happened to me. My friends who run with me; my friends who care for me; my family who love me; old friends and new friends and I am filled with love for every single one of them.