Monday, June 6, 2011

Marathoning Monday!

Sunday kicked off Marathon Training!

Here's a quick recap of how it went down.

We came.

We saw.

We KICKED SOME Galactic Bada$$!

Well I knew it was going to be good when FurtherMore (she got married so she needed a new name) showed up in the identical shirt as me... we are "Freakishly AMAZING".  Mustang Sally was as bright as she is loud (it's a compliment), and DeNiece & 3L were... dressed really appropriately for MTT.

Seriously ~ we looked like a circus pouring out of the van.  Of course we car pooled - let's be responsible with the environment folks!

so remember that scene from Ocean's 11 where the whole group shows up and...


Reuben says Q says:  "What? Did you guys get a group rate or something?"

KC dropped by straight from work, listened to the "orientation talk" by Don and Jon, and she went home to go to bed, and we went for a run with Team Yellow Submarine.  ~lame~  I'm on the campaign trail to re-name us Team Yellow Snow, because you can't touch yellow snow (or, you shouldn't try to at any rate) and we are untouchable. and cool.  and gross.

So the run was fine.  There is a little drama and I have a lot I'd like to say, but none of it is blog worthy, and I have no interest in being the President of the Drama Club.  And then due to circumstances beyond our control the run was cut short.  This is probably a good thing, as I was bit by a spider on Thursday afternoon, and was still pretty sick on Friday & yesterday.  So.  I didn't need to run 7 miles.  We did 5.5 miles instead.

With that 5.55 miles down, I dedicated myself to my marathon training.


Richmond Marathon.  November 12, 2011.

A marathon takes dedication, hardwork, and dedication.

I said dedication twice, because it takes twice as much dedication as hard work. 

I mean, seriously, if you don’t stick to the plan there’s not a lot that hard work can do for you on race day.  Right?  right?  well...  I came to realize recently that it’s quite possible that all this time I have been dedicating myself to the wrong thing.

I mean, a typical marathon training cycle starts with:
I, g, take you marathon training plan to be my partner for the next 23 weeks, to have and to hold, through crankiness and heat,…

…but the last 8 months have shown me that would be like dedicating yourself to the institution of marriage, instead of the actual person across from you.

Cue the Seinfeld – “…not that there’s anything wrong with that…”

When, all these years, maybe I really should have been dedicating myself to me... my body.

To love and cherish, honor and obey…. and forsaking Nutella, enduring icebaths as needed, in sickness and in health, for as long as we both shall run…

I won’t harp on it, but sometimes as a marathoner, people I know (ahem) but surely NEVER me, will run through aches and pains that probably should be rested.  um.  Right.

They do this for a number of reasons.  One being the fear of losing your place in the training cycle.  What if I missed this one run.  And then I can’t get caught back up.  13 weeks of training up in smoke.  Don’t ask me why we’re, uh, this hypothetical runner is so stupid in the heat of the moment…  runners are dumb.

Another thing I’m considering is that no amount of running can get you away from a bad diet.  I don’t mean, restricting calories.  Slashing calories and marathon training are non-compatible.  I eat pretty clean already, but there’s room for improvement.  ahem.  portion sizes and nutella being two things worth mentioning here.

So it’s time to dedicate myself to myself for another season of Marathon Training Team, but the more I think on this, shouldn’t I just be dedicating myself to myself for … ever? 

7 comments:

Anne said...

Dedication to myself! Sounds like a great plan. Go G!

Alili said...

I was with you until 'forsaking Nutella.'

Anonymous said...

My marathon training kicked off this past week but the one I am looking at is the first week of September... I'm freaking out about the short training plan now!

Unknown said...

Way to get the party started!
And, Yellow Snow is a fabulous team name. I hope it sticks, haha!

bobbi said...

Yes to everything you have said here. But damn, it so har to NOT be a slave to the plan...(says the girl who skipped her long run this weekend and is not trying to decide where to SMASH IT BACK IN)...

Does anyone actually use Nutella as a spread? Or am I the only one who eats it straight from the jar with a (large) spoon? Until the jar is empty...then I need a rubber spatula so as not to miss any.

Rene' said...

G....no Nutella really? just a taste?? xoxo!

gba_gf said...

Bobbi - nutella, on a wheat wrap, with sliced strawberries is the ONLY way to eat it if you're NOT eating it right off a spoon, or over ice-cream, or if you dip the spoon in some peanut butter and then scoop some nutella right over top of that... um... yeah, I have a problem.