Beautiful Life----

                         My physical therapist was very interested in my running and asked several questions not usual for doctors, but he was very friendly so I obliged. The two questions I remember were, "Do you get obsessed with things a lot?" and "Do you kids have the same level of energy as you do?". Oh, and I just remember one more, "What does your husband think of all your running." Each question was answered clearly, but each question revealed more about him than me. The more I get into my world of running the more I forget how much a visual disconnect my presentation must be to a casual observer. Here I am, a middle-aged woman with some extra weight on her claiming she ran for 8 hours, while injured with an upper back injury no less. I have long ago dropped the wonderings of whether or not I am believed so it took a bit to fully grasp why all the questions. I answered each question with a smile and quiet joy. 

               Today I covered 16 miles. I have decided to do another 16 miles tomorrow night in order to do a back-to-back run. I felt very stiff before the run, warmed up by mile 3 and at mile 13 I was so excited to almost be done that I ran faster than the first 12 miles. Next week I will try two 20's in a row and one more weeks of that and I will be ready for this 50.....at least mentally I will be ready. 

                I heard an Oprah interview with Amy Purdy and my life changed. A few takeaways from the interview that will stay with me forever. When she clinically died the Spirit told her to not be afraid and that it will all make sense in the end. I have been through a lot in my life and these two messages make me fear future tribulations less, but also make me think that all I've been through is part of the bigger picture. A lot of learning lately it seems. I have also been reading Maya Angelou's last published book, Mom & Me and Mom. As the author has shown in her story, LOVE is the most powerful energy we have. Love can make anything possible; all one has to do is read her life story to know just how powerful and life-changing LOVE has been in her life. 

                 

                  Right now I am listening to an library-borrowed audiobook of Tom Sawyer. Both children fully enjoying the story and it tickles me to see them chuckle loudly at parts of the story. 

Books about running

Reading recommendations from people in the Women's Running Network on Facebook:

* Jennifer Pharr Davis about her Appalachial Trail thru hikes. The first one Becoming Odyssa is about her first thru hike and Called Again is about her record setting attempt. 

* Running for my Life by Lopez Lomong. He is a lost boy from Sudan and it is about his journey of fleeing rebels, living in a refugee camp, coming to America and becoming an Olympic runner.

* "Boston Bound" by Elizabeth Clor

* "My Year of Running Dangerously" by Tom Foreman

* "Running Long" by Runners World,

* Matt Fitzgerald "How Bad Do You Want It?"

* Work in progress by kristen Armstrong

* A life without Limits by Chrissie Wellington

* The long run by Matt long with Charles Butler

* Confessions of an unlikely runner

* Age is just a number by Dara Torres

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Injury Update.....

          who would have known an injury would bring about so many new adventures. For the past week and a half I have been going to the gym and doing cardio and some weights. What I most love about going is how little I have to mentally struggle to make it out the door. Secondly, I love seeing the same people there day after day. Today, a guy I've seen doing weights for over a week now finally managed to look up and say good morning. Tomorrow is the first day I have to pay to be a member and I cannot wait to take advantage of all the perks this set of recreation centers have to offer. My hubby too has been taking advantage and going in the afternoons after I get home. What I most look forward to is being able to do some swim workouts, but right now, seeing as I am just taking lessons to get better, that will have to wait.
           The way I see this working is for me to continue to build by aerobic capacity by working out at 138 BPM or less. This week I will do my best to bring up my workouts to at least 40-45 minutes. Once I get that in gear I can begin to plan for my fall races. In addition, I will need to dial in my eating. I am reading (listening) to this book, Primal Endurance right now and once I am done with that I suspect I will have plenty of new food ideas to implement. But until then I am having a blast working out most mornings before work.

Joyous....

         Running's largest contribution to my life has not been fitness, or weight loss, or even pride, it's been the constant feeling of sheer joy. I don't quite know why or how exactly running has been able to accomplish such a unique form of happiness, but yes, I feel a constant flow of joy in my life and I attribute it all to running. 
           George Sheehan in his book Running and Being (an amazing book by the way) mentions something about the runner facing his or her mortality in every run. I am totally paraphrasing here, but in essence, he says that in every run there is a face-to-face encounter with mortal pain and an epic 'battle' takes place in us which we come to some form of deliverance at the end. This could be the source of the joy. The daily dose of 'triumphs', if you may, lends itself to us feeling invincible emotionally and physically which in turn allows us to see the world as amazing as we feel. 

Sheehan is after my heart

                   I am having a great time reading this book. Borrowed from my public library. I have never read anything like this before. He writes about running exactly how I have felt about it all along, yet have not been able to verbalize it. Feel like I need to buy my own copy too.....

I looked online and here are some awesome quotes I love, love, love:

***“Success means having the courage, the determination, and the will to become the person you believe you were meant to be.” 

***“The mind's first step to self-awareness must be through the body.” 

***"If you want to win anything - a race, yourself, your life - you have to go a little berserk."

*** "Have you ever felt worse after a run?"

***"To keep from decaying, to be a winner, the athlete must accept pain--not only accept it, but look for it, live with it, learn not to fear it."

***"The music of a marathon is a powerful strain, one of those tunes of glory. It asks us to forsake pleasures, to discipline the body, to find courage, to renew faith and to become one's own person, utterly and completely."

***“The true runner is a very fortunate person. He has found something in him that is just perfect.” 
― George Sheehan

Bookstore Finds

                    Usually when I go to the bookstore I am lucky to find one copy of Born to Run and several copies of maybe Chi Running .  But this weekend we went with the family to a Barnes and Noble in Downtown DC and found these awesome unique titles. I wanted to buy the Sheehan book (Running and Being) but I could not get myself to buy a new book....I usually go the 'used' route.