Well I know it has been a bit of time since my last riveting post and so much as has happened. Well, maybe not. I am glad to report that the Giants finally got a win against the Padres, that was getting a bit insane.
Dance rehearsal went well last week, our dance is finally coming together. I am a little worried about the uncertainty of our next and final practice before the show on the 28th. Hopefully, we can pull it together, I think we are going to bring down the house.
The biggest news is that it has been a few months and I am still running. Sure I am not up to Forest Gump milage just yet, but I am getting there.
As I was tracking my milage on "Runnersworld.Com" I saw an ad for the San Francisco Marathon. Though I have never had the desire to train for or run a marathon, I clicked on the link and began to look at the website. I noticed that not only did they have a marathon, but they have two half-marathons and a 5K run. I knew I could do the 5K but I couldn't see myself going out to SF just to run a little 5K race. Then the possibility of running a half-marathon entered my mind. I was planning on running the one here in Phoenix next January/February, but I love SF and I would love to run one there. I looked at the course which runs along the Embarcadero, past Fisherman's Wharf, across the Golden Gate Bridge and back, then ends in Golden Gate Park. To me that seemed cool, but was it possible?
Normally, I would only entertain this notion for a minute or two and then my mind would tell me all the reasons that this idea is not only crazy, but is stupid. My mind would tell me things like how I can't run that far, how it would be too expensive, how I would finish in like 12,000th place, so what's the point?
Something else happened instead. I dared for a moment to dream, to think what if. I let myself think instead of what can be done and to think for a moment of what I wanted barring all obstacles. For me, this is a huge break through. To stop thinking of what I can't do and think about what I want to do and what I could do. So I decided, all things aside, I want to run a half-marathon is San Francisco on July 25, 2010.
My next step was to think about how I was going to accomplish this, not about what was standing in my way, but how I was going to overcome obstacles in order to do what I wanted to do.
My first concern was my physical ability to complete the course. In order to complete the 13 miles, you have to run in under about 3 hrs or they start reopening the streets. You can still keep running, but watch out for cars. So I decided to see if I could run 13 miles in under 3 hours. I devised a training program (with some expert help, of course) and on Sunday I did my first "long" run of 7 miles. I accomplished the 7 miles by jogging the entire time and ending in just under an hour and twenty minutes. So I determined that if I could currently run 7 miles in under an hour and half, that in 11 weeks, I could build up to run 13 miles in under 3 hours no problem. (I am planning on running it under 2:30)
The next obstacle is of course funding. It cost money to enter, it cost money to get there but I was determined that a way would surface. In somewhat of a surprise manner, I recieved a bonus from work, enough that I could fund my endevour.
So I allowed myself to dream and things are coming together. I am under no illusion that I will win the half-marathon but it's not about that. It's not about competing against others, it is about competing against myself. It is about proving to myself that I can accomplish the things I set out to do. It's about showing the self-doubting half of myself that I can do things I never before would allow myself the opportunity to dream about. When Sir Edmund Hillary was asked why he climbed Mt. Everest his response was "Because it was there". People may ask why I want to travel 700 miles from home to run a 13 mile race knowing that I won't win a medal, I won't get my name in the paper and won't get glory. To that I respond: Because it is there, and I add: because I CAN!
I know it will be difficult training over the next few months, it will come at a price but then again the great things in my life haven't come easy. It has always been through hard work and sacrafice that great things have happened to me. Everytime I wake up at 5:00 to go jogging and ask myself why I am doing this, I will think of that finish line. Everytime my muscles ache, I will think of that finish line. I know my goal and I will keep that in mind over the next ten weeks or so. I dream of crossing that finish line in Golden Gate Park. To me that will be the blow that finally tears down the "wall" in my mind that separates what I believe I can do and what I actually can do. It's time for the wall to come down.
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