The good, the bad and the pissed off...

The Good: Well, its Rose and Lew, of course! My very dear good friends came out and braved the cold and torrents of rain to cheer on my entire team! Today was our longest run yet and Lew and Rose started us off with a pep talk and explained how the funds we are raising really do benefit patients just like him. Lew's doctors have told him, "we just need to buy time so we can make this a chronic disease, not a deadly one". Exactly what we needed to hear to get us going and mentally get us to that spot to succeed. (I was taking it all in, so much so, that I didn't snap a single picture!) Lew and Rose were next off to the water stops. It was wonderfully cheerful having them supply us water, Gatorade and salt. Rose, the eternal optimist, was also sprinkling us with "drops of sunshine"! She is a hoot! My asst. coach, Laura, has always commented on what good friends I have and today once again proved I am blessed in so many ways!

The Bad: Rain, cold, wind and shoes filled with water and pebbles. It's hard to complain when you've got such good friends cheering you on - so enough of the bad!

The Pissed Off: That's me, the pissed off one. I had hoped to be blogging about my successful 16 mile run. Unfortunately I cannot . Why you ask? Was it because I was unwilling? NO! Was it because I couldn't do it? NO! Was it because my legs fell off or the sidewalks closed down or the earth stopped spinning? NO! NO! NO!
It was because my coach, David, sagged me at 14.5 miles! What, you say?! Sagged on your practice run? Sagged while preparing your mental game?! Sagged with energy to spare?! What's up with that?!!

Good question! I have that same question! His excuse: "time's up" and then he went on with this: "it could be detrimental to your body to be on your feet this long" (oh please, I did 52 hours of labor - all standing!) His next line: "I could get in trouble as a coach if I allow you to go on" "its Team in Training national standards of coaching". Whatever-not buying it! I think the worst part is that my coaches have spent a significant amount of time telling us that we are getting down to the mental game and then the jerk sags me! Why didn't he just come right out and say "you can't do it" or "I just wanted you to get a taste of what the sag wagon will feel like at your marathon" - jerk.

Never, in my life, did I ever imagine I would be begging to keep running! But also, never, in my life, did I ever imagine I would feel like a failure after 14.5 miles. I also never imagined that I would be so mad after a practice that not a single muscle in my body hurt - the only pain I had was to the psyche.

The rest of the season is going to be interesting...