An Attitude of Gratitude

What can I say other than I’m very blessed to be able to run the distances with the fantastic group of runners that have come together for this incredible marathon journey we have embarked upon.

The Queen of Self Sabotage was really quite evident earlier this week, and she was doing her darnedest to make me believe in her and not in myself. Well, just to let you know, she has been dethroned and hopefully we won’t see her again or at least not for a very, very long time.

Yesterday I had such a good run and a good fun time putting together my virtual race results for Non-Runner Nancy, who instigated the 9 on the 9th Sweetheart Shuffle, kudos Nancy! That was so much fun!

Today, Sunday, was our 13K LSD, (Long Slow Distance), not Lucy in The Sky with Diamonds . . .

Since all the run clinics are back in operation there was a tremendous turnout of runners this morning at 8:30. Every level of runner, every group from Learn to Run right up to the Marathon group, we all have something to learn from one another. Just showing up at 8:30 on a Sunday morning shows the commitment to the sport and to themselves . . . good on everyone, it shows a champion attitude! You are all heros’ in my eyes.

For me, never having run a Marathon before, this is a little nerve wracking, but now that the Queen has been set aside, things are much more realistic for me. I had emailed one of my Phoenix Phenom’s with my concerns. True to her wisdom (having run three marathons and many half marathons) I received this sage advice.

“Toward the end of the training you will have doubts that you did the right thing & doubts that you are able to even complete. But you need to remember it’s your head talking & your body is exhausted. You can really do this! I have no doubt! Think of it Lily, I’ve done three….you can do this! One run at a time & believe me, they won’t all be good ones; maybe today’s will be crappy but tomorrows will be good. All you need to remember is….”one step in front of the other….& at the end something WONDERFUL is going to happen”.

You will be a “MARATHONER”.

Well, with that in mind we headed off for our 13K LSD, Phoenix Phenom and I ran with the 5 hour group. (Meaning our target race time to complete the Marathon will be in 5 hours.....makes sense). The sidewalks were not in that great of shape considering we had another snow fall last night. However, the roadways were clear so we pretty much stuck to running on the roads.

It was a really nice run with a wonderful group of enthusiastic, chatty runners, from the novice (me) to the Ultra Marathon / Iron Man (who dropped back to chat with us), we all had a great run! The day is sunny and bright, cold and if you can stay out of the wind, quite enjoyable.


Back to my attitude of gratitude. Thanks everyone for the kind words of encouragement and I really do know several people, both young and elderly who cannot get outside due to extreme health issues, so I say this, get better soon! You are always in my thoughts as I am so blessed to be able to do this.....

Life’s fun if you don’t weaken, enjoy your journey one step at a time.

Lily