I looked at the calendar this morning and realized it was July 7. So what? Because July 7, 2007, is when I made the commitment to be a runner again, with the simplest of starts -- lacing up the old adidas and running two miles around the neighborhood on a hot Sunday evening.
Since then, there have been 1138 miles, and who knows how many hours on the treadmill and the roads to complete that many miles, a lot of Advil and Celebrex and ice baths and stretching, seven pairs of shoes, a 5K, two 10Ks and one very painful marathon. There have been 27 pounds lost, never to be found (I hope), several pairs of pants I can't wear any more, several more I can wear again that I couldn't then. Some of my patients are actually worried that I've lost TOO much weight.
Was it Dick Beardsley who said in "Spirit of the Marathon" that once you cross the finish line in a marathon, your life has changed forever? I couldn't agree more. I'm not the same person I was last July 7, not by a long shot. I committed to achieve a very difficult, time-consuming goal and I achieved it, and as a result, I don't look at myself the same way I once did. Now I'm committed to doing it again, better and faster. Before I was husband, father, medical professional, proud Arkansan, Razorback fan. I'm still all of those things, but I'm also an obsessed Crackhead, and a marathoner, and proud of it. Finishing 26.2 is something I can be proud of for the rest of my life. Ditto a sub-four-hour, when I get there, and a BQ, when I get THERE.
OK, enough of this retrospective. Year Two began with a nine-mile run with a lactate threshold run tucked into the middle. It was supposed to be 4 miles of LT at just under 8:00 pace, after a three-mile warmup run. The warmup went just fine, but I realized shortly into the LT that my legs still haven't recovered from the back-to-back whammy of an all-out 5K and a 12-miler in 100% humidity on consecutive days. Three miles of LT at that pace was all I could coax out of my legs, and getting in three more miles at 10:00 pace to finish the 9 was not much easier. Tomorrow is down for an easy 5-miler, and I do mean EASY. I think I'm still a bit dehydrated/glycogen-depleted as well, and I need to really pound down the fluids, and the carbs, for the next 48 hours or so. But at least I've caught up on my sleep, somewhat. | 