Thursday, May 7, 2009

Personal Journey

jour·ney (jûrn)
n. pl. jour·neys
1. a. The act of traveling from one place to another; a trip.
b. A distance to be traveled or the time required for a trip: a 2,000-mile journey to the Pacific; the three-day journey home.
2. A process or course likened to traveling; a passage: the journey of life.

Over the past 3 months I have been preparing for the Fargo Half Marathon. Thirteen-point-one miles seems very daunting; however, I am eager to challenge myself. Each week, I follow the Hal Higdon half marathon training schedule for novices. The interesting thing is that beginning on week 7, I got to accomplish a new personal record distance each week. Although, I have been running for 15 years or so, the furthest I had ever gone at one time is a 10K or 6.6 miles with my average being 3 miles at a time.

I added some new tech-y gear during my training. I now have a running watch which tracks my heart-rate as well as my distance and speed. My have logged 143 miles on it since mid-March. Wow - that has been a long journey.

Although I listen to my ipod during my runs, I keep it on a very low volume so I can hear traffic and still be aware of my surroundings. Per my dad's request, I try to run against traffic as much as possible as well for safety reasons. My thoughts really drift around during my runs. Especially my long runs, which have maxed out at 11 miles. I think about my life, my dreams, my goals, my aching knees, my kids, my husband, my friends, my family, my poor blistered toe... lots and lots of things. Mostly, I use that time to thank God for all the blessings in my life and to ask Him for strength and guidance. I do have so many, many blessings.
My BFF, Kathy, got me thinking about this journey when she sent me this beautiful Personal Journey necklace and note this week. Although I don't have a running partner, I did have Kathy as my virtual, running partner because she trained for the Ft Collin's Half Marathon during this same time period as I have been training. Kathy completed her Half Marathon this past Sunday on May 3rd. I am so proud of Kathy because she not only beat her goal, she accomplished something she never knew she could. Kathy is an inspiration to me! I'm excited to wear this necklace as a tangible reminder of not only the half marathon, but of my 18-year friendship with Kathy.
So this Saturday morning, send your positive thoughts and prayers my way, as I fulfill my personal journey of completing a half marathon in Fargo. I am most worried about wind, which unfortunately is forcast to be about 12 MPH out of the North/Northwest. Aside from that, I want to be under 2 hours. Wish me luck as I hang out with 15,000 other racers on Saturday!

2 comments:

Lori said...

You are an inspiration. Good luck on Saturday!!

the mom~ said...

I'll be there to cheer ya on! Go NAE!!!