Day 121: Owning Twelve

Today is the start of my 5th month of training. I’m one-third of the way there and I’m very grateful I haven’t had any injuries. I’ve been bloody, blistered, swollen, sore, nauseous, stiff and miserable – but nothing’s broken or pulled. That is the definition of success, on my terms. Remember, I’m not expecting to like this, or feel good along the way. I’m just conducting an experiment – to find out why anyone in their right mind would train to run a Marathon.

I was scheduled to run 3-4 miles today but wasn’t able to. I had it planned so nicely, but then a whole bunch of things got in the way. First an early morning conference call ran long. Then the hotel lost my dry cleaning (half of my clothes for the next leg of my business trip were “misplaced” permanently - awesome). Then a family emergency came up and took hours to resolve across three phones, involving doctors and kind friends who have offered to help when I’m traveling.

I cried a lot there in my Florida hotel room while I was on hold, pressing # for the nurse’s station, and taking notes. One doctor said he felt sorry for me – that the situation was so bad – and I said no really, it’s no big deal compared to training for a Marathon! I meant it when I said it but upon further thought, maybe it’s the other way around. Running doesn’t seem so bad compared to the pounding I have to deal with in my personal life sometimes.

And so… anyway, there went my plan for a run on the beach and a dip in the pool. Such a bummer to miss my last chance for the sun. Now I’m on an overnight plane to frigid Sweden via Germany. No running in the air, as much as I’d really like to be on the move right now.

Anyway, I'm alright missing a day. Not worried a bit. Yesterday I ran TWELVE MILES! 12 was the magic number for me – the one that tipped me into some kind of sense of my own legitimacy. You'd think a nice round number like 10 would have done it but the truth is, when I ran 10, I didn't really believe I'd run 10. I kept recalculating the distance (always added up to 10...but I had my doubts) and entertaining the possibility that the people who measure distances in the Park don't know what they're doing. Then 11? Well that was like 10 plus a little tidbit so what's so special about 11.

But 12? I can’t deny 12 is 12. I ran it the whole way, in another state, in a whole different "season" of weather conditions. Plus, I hurt something awful afterwards. I definitely ran 12 miles! Damn!