The measure of a true friend!

What does a great friend look like?! She donates money to support Lew in honor of her mother who died of breast cancer. She leaves inspirational messages that say, "I'm there for you" and she means it! Remembering her message and knowing that I needed to change my attitude on running I called Mel 3 days before my 180 minute run. "No problem", she says, "I'm there!" So after working all night at Airlift she shows up at 8am ready to go. She's smiley and enthusiastic, doesn't even bat an eye at being there. She is super patient when I want to walk more than run and she is loads of fun! So what does this saintly friend look like? She wears a pink bandanna and thinks it is so much fun to run across the Narrows bridge! She looks like this:



Mel, you are a Saint, and I love ya girl - thanks for making running fun and shifting my attitude!

What a differene a week can make!

Wow! Maybe I should have been a blubbering idiot on the streets of Tacoma long ago. I feel great! It kind of reminds me of the movie with Holly Hunter who starts out every morning with a good cry and then goes about her day happy as a clam. I doubt I could muster a cry every day but I could run out on the street once a week....maybe I'll pass on this one.

This week's running has been fantastic! Even my Saturday run of 100 minutes was pretty spectacular - well, by my standards anyway. Nothing hurt, no organs need to be removed and I did not get lost. I guess I should tell you that I ran in my neighborhood and my sweet #1 fans, John and Jack, were with me so that probably helps with the whole attitude and navigation thing but still I had a pretty good time. I think there are visions of playing the saxophone in my future. I keep waiting to get back to that day when I was training for the Nike and had a small tinge of euphoria and think I may be getting pretty close to that day. Wohoo!

I've started working on my core too. Our coach says that its the last 5.6 miles that take most marthoner's down. He says it's because of a weak core. He says you are so tired at the end you begin to slouch because your core is too weak to hold you up and this throws everything out of whack. Makes sense to me! I start doing a core workout . This isn't so bad and in my head I am looking pretty good! Apparently not as good as I thought. I see my darling 3 year old sitting on the couch with his curious George. He is staring at me with a quizical look on his face. You may have seen this look - head cocked to one side and one eye slightly closed - he says to me, "Mommy, what are you doing?" I don't reply because I have a sense that my image of me is about to change - he says, "Are you dancing?" Did he really just ask if I was dancing?! WHAT?! Dancing?! Is my dancing really that bad that it imitates a strenuous core work out?! What do I look like when I'm dancing? Red faced and sweaty like I'm having a bowel movement?!! Yikes! It's probably a good thing I've been getting drunk all these years when I'm out dancing. Visions of Elaine from Seinfeld pop into my head. Next time I'm getting a babysitter.

The $10 Run!

This almost makes me want to cry...wait, do I always cry anyway? Ask my dear friend Donna Reddell who says I am "stone heart" and can get through anything without crying...ahh, the good old days of not crying... Well, anyway, that was a long time ago and this was Saturday and my 130 minute run! OK, so I'm still a little out of shape (I know, I know - you ask, "how can she STILL be out of shape and have been training for soooooo loooong?! I don't know!! Well....maybe I do know...something about a whole lot of wine and potato chips).

Did you ever notice my brain is like a pinball machine? It just goes from one thought to another to another, well, that is whole another story and I am trying to tell you about my run on Saturday. OK, I'll try again.

In case you haven't noticed I have been a little doom and gloom. I can't seem to motivate myself, to run or anything else for that matter. So Saturday I showed up for 130 minute run and I was already mad. I knew I would be running totally by myself and not a bathroom in sight. I would just be out there on the street by myself after feeling guilty for leaving my sweet family at home because this season is totally different than last time and they just can't come and just feeling blah.
I arrived late. When I got there I found the Seattle Rock and Roll summer team at practice day 1. Wow! My old coach and 8 of my Nike teammates were there! What should have inspired me made me sad. I wish I was on their team. After hearing what turned out to be an inspiring story we headed out for our run. I found a port a potty and headed out for I thought would be over 2 hours of blah. Nothing was changing my bad attitude - not Lew, not Casting Crowns, nothing. Then I saw all these people running. It was the Rock and Roll people! They had their first run at 30 minutes so they had already turned around and were coming back at me. Then I saw Courntey and Jessica and Robin and I just started crying and crying and crying. Can you still have crazy hormones after a hysterectomy?! I cried for everything right there on the streets of Tacoma. For what could have been...a marathon already completed, a baby come and gone, for still being out of shape, for running by myself, for world peace... you name, I cried it! Look at the picture - my body is swollen from running ( and potato chips and wine) and my eyes are swollen from crying. I think I had a mini attitude adjustment. I ran on.

130 minutes is a long time! I sometimes get lost on these long runs. The truth is since I started running out of Point Defiance Park I almost ALWAYS get lost. So I kept running and running and running. (I even had a mini Forest Gump moment when I saw a pile of smashed dog poopy -(s*!% happens) on the road -yikes, I wonder who stepped in that?! I was just glad it wasn't a steaming pile on my man shoe!)
ANYWAY! I went left when I should have gone right and before I knew it I was enjoying the view. Incredible homes and the Puget Sound. Wow! And most importantly a little old man in his front yard taking care of his plants. Since I run so slow its easy to hear people strike up a conversation. The sweet old man asked me what I was doing? So I told him I was running for Lew and what multiple myeloma is and about fundraising and being out of shape and lost. And then he gave me TEN DOLLARS! I could cry thinking about it! This sweet old man (who was hard of hearing, by the way - thank God I am loud!) reaches into his wallet and gives me TEN DOLLARS!!!!!!! OK, I AM crying thinking about it! And off I go, running lost on a Tacoma street with a serious attitude adjustment!!!!!!! After that, I listened to Casting Crowns "In Me" over and over again and had another attitude adjustment. I even made it back 5 minutes early!!! My coach was astonished! Since he didn't see me at the water stop he just assumed I quit and went home. WRONG! I was busy being led by the holy spirit having, yet another, attitude adjustment!

Here are my top three reasons to have attitude adjustment:
1. A little old man on the streets of Tacoma gave me TEN DOLLARS!
2. ALL OF MY FRIENDS AND FAMILY gave me $4,186.00 to run a marathon!
3. I am running a marathon in Canada so if I drop on the course its means socialized medicine and its FREE CARE!!! .......Until I pay Airlift the $20,000 to get me to Seattle.....wait... Ed Eroe is gone and Airlift will do the right thing.....(remind me to tell you that story one day!)

So here I am. One day post 130 minute run and my quads are hurting and I am FEELING GOOD! On to the next week! Let's cure Lew AND run, run, run!