Today, by grace, I ran farther than I have since December 2008. Now, let me back track a bit....
The last couple weeks have been a little rough on the marathon training. Most of my runs have been completed but here is a brief re-cap of the last couple of weeks: Sick child, tired momma, husband working on long run days, rain, bear fears and more.
But we pressed on and completed the big stuff and plodded through the little! Then yesterday hit, I made my medium and medium long runs this week (missed the 3 miler) and had high hopes to run the weekend long run. Friday came, looking pretty good. Then Friday went like this: stop by CVS to get some stuff to help Will with some toileting stuff, go help Will, call the doctor due to his cold and running ear, told to go to the doctor, go to the doctor to hear: Pneumonia and a tube falling out, go to Walgreens to get the meds, car starts smelling in the Walgreens parking lot and is on HOT! Mom comes to get us, we get home with meds and onward.
So now I am tired and all I want to do is sleep in with my sick little guy, but the weather is great and I want to run. Knowing I needed a little help to stick to it, I met my dad downtown to get started.
6:45 am, 50's outside, PERFECT! We left the college street parking garage and headed to the start of his race, The Asheville Half! My dad rocks and so does every other runner who did that, man its hilly! I opted out with my leg and headed for flat land to do my run. I was knocking off miles with ease, faster than the entire training that started in July! I felt great! When I got to the turn around I thought to myself, "I am going to make it walking, running, or crawling!" I still felt good and tears came to my eyes at the thought of what this run meant! I was going to finish a 15 MILE RUN!
As I made the turn up Broadway with 3 miles left, I joined some of the runners from the race, wished them well and turned up through Montford. I cruised back to the parking garage, tears in my eyes, and thanked the Lord that I was able to run again, and that by his grace I ran farther than I had in four years. Man it feels good. It is also awesome to know that I am still on track to run a marathon, again, something I never thought would be back in my life after the clot. Praise the Lord, he is good!
Just some updates: the leg swells and still falls asleep around 4 miles, 6 miles is easier now, my medium runs are great, and my knee is starting to bother me some due to the swelling of my leg I guess. BUT.....it all recovers much faster than it did a month ago and no damage is being done, so I press on!
Dear Asheville Half: Thank you for letting me hi-jack a porta pot before my run:-)
