- Being able to run when so many others can't.
- The many caring and generous family, friends and colleagues who have offered financial and emotional support over the past 9 weeks.
- My fabulous husband who offers daily love and encouragement, and ensures that I am always properly fed and watered.
- Beautiful recreational pathways and trails on which to run.
- The unseasonably cool, damp weather which has made marathon training during an Ottawa summer so much easier than I expected.
- New TNT friends and colleagues who share my passion for running and for wanting to make a difference.
- Kirsi and Jon for inspiring me to take on this challenge.
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Gratitude
My long run today was a bit tough so I had to work harder than usual at feeling good about it. Half way through, when I was starting to feel sorry for myself, I decided I'd better make a list of the things I was grateful for instead of dwelling on the things that hurt. Here's what I came up with (in no particular order):
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Running Lessons
On my long run last Sunday, I got thinking about all the things running has taught me.
Hard work, determination, and a positive attitude can take you a long way.
I may not have the natural talent and grace of a gazelle, but with practice, good coaching and a positive attitude, I've learned techniques and developed abilities that help me cover the ground more quickly and feel good doing it.
Small problems can become big ones if you don’t deal with them when you should.
I’m constantly amazed at how much trouble a tiny pebble in my shoe or laces that are too tight can cause. If – out of stubbornness or stupidity – I don’t stop to fix the problem quickly enough, I invariably end up with more serious pain or injury somewhere else in my body as it tries to compensate for the changes in my gait.
You’re stronger than you know.
Even after I’d been running for more than a year, I really believed 5km was as far as I’d ever run. Certainly, I never thought I'd be running full and half marathons but, six years later, here I am preparing for my 4th full marathon in Chicago. On days when I feel really strong, I even daydream about running an ultramarathon one day! So it turns out I'm stronger than I knew – a helpful thing to keep in mind when life throws me curves I’m not sure I can handle.
It’s important to be attentive to your body and your thoughts.
I enjoy running with others, but I also like running on my own when it’s easier to tune into what my body and my thoughts are doing. When my mind is repeating negative or discouraging messages, it can be tough to finish a run, so I focus on thinking positive, encouraging thoughts – about my running, my training and my life. I also keep a close eye on what my body’s doing. In the past, I’ve sometimes ignored what it was telling me, and pushed myself to the point of injury or exhaustion. But with time, and experience I’ve come to accept that sometimes what I most need is to stop, rest, reflect and breathe deeply.
There’s beauty around you when you remember to look for it.
On a long run, I can be so busy checking my pace, calculating my distance, keeping an eye on traffic, and dealing with whatever bit of my body is uncomfortable at that moment that I forget to notice the beauty around me – the trees, birds and flowers, the laughter of children, the colour of the sky, the smell of the ocean. It’s the same for the rest of my life. I've gone through whole days not paying attention to anything except my own thoughts and worries. To really see, hear, smell, feel and savour the beauty of the world around me, I have to get out of my head and work at being fully present in my life.
Hard work, determination, and a positive attitude can take you a long way.
I may not have the natural talent and grace of a gazelle, but with practice, good coaching and a positive attitude, I've learned techniques and developed abilities that help me cover the ground more quickly and feel good doing it.
Small problems can become big ones if you don’t deal with them when you should.
I’m constantly amazed at how much trouble a tiny pebble in my shoe or laces that are too tight can cause. If – out of stubbornness or stupidity – I don’t stop to fix the problem quickly enough, I invariably end up with more serious pain or injury somewhere else in my body as it tries to compensate for the changes in my gait.
You’re stronger than you know.
Even after I’d been running for more than a year, I really believed 5km was as far as I’d ever run. Certainly, I never thought I'd be running full and half marathons but, six years later, here I am preparing for my 4th full marathon in Chicago. On days when I feel really strong, I even daydream about running an ultramarathon one day! So it turns out I'm stronger than I knew – a helpful thing to keep in mind when life throws me curves I’m not sure I can handle.
It’s important to be attentive to your body and your thoughts.
I enjoy running with others, but I also like running on my own when it’s easier to tune into what my body and my thoughts are doing. When my mind is repeating negative or discouraging messages, it can be tough to finish a run, so I focus on thinking positive, encouraging thoughts – about my running, my training and my life. I also keep a close eye on what my body’s doing. In the past, I’ve sometimes ignored what it was telling me, and pushed myself to the point of injury or exhaustion. But with time, and experience I’ve come to accept that sometimes what I most need is to stop, rest, reflect and breathe deeply.
There’s beauty around you when you remember to look for it.
On a long run, I can be so busy checking my pace, calculating my distance, keeping an eye on traffic, and dealing with whatever bit of my body is uncomfortable at that moment that I forget to notice the beauty around me – the trees, birds and flowers, the laughter of children, the colour of the sky, the smell of the ocean. It’s the same for the rest of my life. I've gone through whole days not paying attention to anything except my own thoughts and worries. To really see, hear, smell, feel and savour the beauty of the world around me, I have to get out of my head and work at being fully present in my life.
Monday, July 6, 2009
Expectations
This week, I’ve been pondering expectations – my own and others'. I have two main goals for Chicago – to raise a lot of money for cancer research and to run the marathon in a personal best time of 4:45.
It seems I may be on the way to meeting the first goal with contributions from family, friends and colleagues (made and promised) topping $3,000 to date. If all continues to go well, I hope to have raised $6,000 or more before I get on the plane to Chicago in October.
The second goal is the one I’ve been struggling with. A colleague told me recently he wasn’t impressed that I aspired to run Chicago in 4:45 – even though it would be a personal best time for me. He thought I should be aiming for a Boston qualifying time of 4:00. I told him he was dreaming in Technicolor (which he was), but the fact is I would like to run it in 4:30 – almost 24 minutes faster than I’ve ever run a marathon before. In theory, it should be possible since I’ve previously completed half marathons in 2:06 and 2:10. But I set the more modest goal because I was worried about raising unrealistic expectations and disappointing the people who had supported me. After all, as wise man once told me, it’s usually better to “under-promise and over-deliver”.
I now think it’s probably a good thing to come clean about my true aspirations for the race so that people know I am making a serious effort in exchange for their support. But I also want to be sure I don’t lose sight of what’s really important here:
To raise money and awareness.
To honour and celebrate my friends.
To remember all the people I’ve met or heard about who have been touched by blood cancers.
It would be nice to run a personal best, and I’ll be training harder than I ever have in an effort to do that. But in the end, this race really is about more than just running – and I don’t want my own expectations – or those of anyone else – to keep me from focusing on what really matters.
It seems I may be on the way to meeting the first goal with contributions from family, friends and colleagues (made and promised) topping $3,000 to date. If all continues to go well, I hope to have raised $6,000 or more before I get on the plane to Chicago in October.
The second goal is the one I’ve been struggling with. A colleague told me recently he wasn’t impressed that I aspired to run Chicago in 4:45 – even though it would be a personal best time for me. He thought I should be aiming for a Boston qualifying time of 4:00. I told him he was dreaming in Technicolor (which he was), but the fact is I would like to run it in 4:30 – almost 24 minutes faster than I’ve ever run a marathon before. In theory, it should be possible since I’ve previously completed half marathons in 2:06 and 2:10. But I set the more modest goal because I was worried about raising unrealistic expectations and disappointing the people who had supported me. After all, as wise man once told me, it’s usually better to “under-promise and over-deliver”.
I now think it’s probably a good thing to come clean about my true aspirations for the race so that people know I am making a serious effort in exchange for their support. But I also want to be sure I don’t lose sight of what’s really important here:
To raise money and awareness.
To honour and celebrate my friends.
To remember all the people I’ve met or heard about who have been touched by blood cancers.
It would be nice to run a personal best, and I’ll be training harder than I ever have in an effort to do that. But in the end, this race really is about more than just running – and I don’t want my own expectations – or those of anyone else – to keep me from focusing on what really matters.
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