She said to wake her this morning and she would decide then if she wanted to get up that early. So, this morning, I tried waking her. Normally, she's easy to wake. But after 3 tries without response I figured I'd had my answer and went without her.
I explored the trails around a wash near my house and found a nice 4 mile route. I am still nursing my injured leg, so I just went at a barely moving pace. I really did what would be called a Zen Run on a show I watched last night.
When I returned home from my run my running partner came down stairs. She slept in her running outfit. She was so disappointed that she didn't wake up when I called her. I felt terrible. She was so cute all sleepy faced wearing her running outfit. She came up with a contingency plan for the future...cell phone under her pillow. I can call her in the future if she doesn't wake.
Last night we watched The Spirit of the Marathon. It followed six (I think) participants of the Chicago Marathon, all of various walks of life and ability levels. The movie did a good job following each different person through their trials and background.
One particular person had the best quotes, or at least, recited them. Her name was Lori and she was a mid/late 20's woman (I'm guessing) that was running to raise money for an adoption agency. She trained seriously and enjoyed running. I believe it was her first marathon.
One thing I really identified with was when she said people asked her if she was going to win the marathon. To all but a very select elite, winning has NOTHING to do with participation. So, not just people around me don't get that (though mine was on a bike race not a marathon).
Lori's boyfriend mentioned that he believed that the purpose of public transportation was to assist those needing to travel farther than 5 miles. He also mentioned the insanity of running 20 miles when one ends up where they started. Good points, both of them!
There was a couple who were serious marathoners trying to qualify for the Boston Marathon. The women said that she admired those who ran without watches. She called then Zen Runners. They run for the pure pleasure of running. Well, sometimes, they also run that way because they're recovering from injury (as in my case)!
There was an older man, close to 70. He started running marathons when he was 65. He helped a lot of first timers train and enticed his daughter and new daughter-in-law to run the marathon. He said something that struck me, and I'll paraphrase. He said something along the lines that, Running consumes you. Even if you don't want to talk about it, it's what you think about, so it comes out. You don't care if people get tired of hearing about running, it's on your mind.
In all, it was neat to hear each runner's perspective, motivation and initial spark of interest in running. It certainly made me want to run this morning!
Today's art work is in celebration of one of my favorite foods...chili.
How about that? I watched the same movie on Sunday evening. I enjoyed Lori's and Deena's story, but I most identified with the old guy. When I saw that he was taking the noobies on a 12 minute pace I felt better about my own progress. I can do 12 minute miles (when I'm healthy) all day long, but getting to 10 mph is a real struggle - at least for now.
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