Determination Vs. Humidity

This Saturday seven of us from my running club made the trek up to Rockefeller State Park Preserve for our weekly long runs building up to our marathons. Now we knew the forcast was for high humidity and temperatures, but we all needed to get in the miles. Apparently a few of us have this belief that Rockefeller exists in its own isolated climatic environment, therefore all locally televised meteorological predictions are not valid. So as we buckled up laughing, we took off discussing our goals for the day: 2.75 to 3 hours worth of running.

We managed to pull into the packed parking lot just after 7 AM. We climbed out of the cars, hit the porta-potties, and hashed out the general plan of attack. We had different paced runners with us, so we decided to play follow the leader. You kept track of the people just ahead of you and when there was a fork in the trail the person ahead was responsible for checking that the people behind saw which trail was chosen or double back some (therefore continually running) making air traffic control signals until noticed.

Three of us took one short break after an hour back at the parking lot for gatorade/water and then headed out again. By this time you couldn’t find one dry speck of alleged wicking material on my tank top; my hair was drenchedl and I still had 1:45 left to go. UGH. We took back up on the trails. Funny! I was running with 2 runners I admire who happen to not be doing a marathon this fall. They just wanted to run long up in Rockefeller.

We ran into the rest of group in fragments – it seems the follow the leader game fell apart when we turned back for our break. Everyone was doing ok though. We decided that we’d run out for ~45 minutes then head back, so we’d trick ourselves into running 1.5 more hours before having to fight the siren’s call of water, rest, and fresh clothes! In retrospect it was the smartest decision of the day!

With each drip of sweat that fell from my hair, my chin, or my shorts, minutes came off my goal of 2.75 hours of running. I cunningly thought that if I could guide the gal who only wanted to do 2.5 hours back to the car so she won’t get lost, I could do a lap around the lake and be done forcing myself to 2 hours and 40minutes. There was just no way. I was out of water and energy; I really was tired of my sweat streaming off my shorts down the back of my legs. I passed the path to the visiter center like I was gonna make it around the lake but who was i fooling!! I forced myself for another minute, doubled back and ran to the car to make it to exactly 2.5 hours. So I lasted a whole 5 minutes more than my last long run.

We were all determined to get our runs in and done with on Saturday: determination. I found out from my running pal and team captain that the humidity was 10% higher in Tarrytown than in Astoria that day: humidity. No more do I believe that Rockefeller exists in its own perfect running weather world. As determined (and/or insane) as we might have been, we didn't let humidity win. And at the end of the day I know we were all satisfied.

9 Weeks to GO

So, I'm posting twice on the first day! I figure might as well jump right into the deep end! I'm training for my second marathon - the Marine Corps Marathon in Washington D.C. on October 28th! My amazing boyfriend and 4 of my awesome running club friends are also running it. It has been a tough summer of training. I bit off a sprint triathlon (last Sunday), and I am feeling some pressure of a time to beat! I also have been running consistently for 2 years now, but I'm still learning a ton! Mostly I'm learning how to keep motivated to get out that door and run. (I also am learning that I love swimming!)

A question that hovers in the background for me these last couple months is how do I repeat the fantastic experience that I had during my first marathon last year in NYC? It still makes me gush like a chatty teenage girl! I'll admit I'm scared to have a bad marathon. But I'm getting in my longs runs; it's my weekly mileage that has suffered.

Although I'm slowly gaining confidence in my training as the summer wanes. I guess you just have to put your head down, grit your teeth, and do the runs and have the faith that your plans will prepare you for those 26.2 miles. You know, I believe my Mom would call this a healthy fear. A marathon is an animal that you have to respect. One day an encounter might be full of playfulness, another wariness, and yet another full of anger and fear. But if you know all sides of the beast, you know how to tame it or attack it. That is the beauty of it I guess: the uncertainty of it all.

I'm wearing a suit jacket today.

So today I am wearing a suit jacket to work. I have never done that before. Everyone keeps asking me if this is my "church outfit" or "how did the interview go?". I vowed when I was in college to never wear a suit. Now I am. I decided that I needed achieve another first today; so I decided to finally post for the first time on my blog. This is also something I have never done before.

I do have 3 to 4 drafts saved up for future editing. One has been stewing for over a year I think. I start writing and then the pressure to be witty and set the theme becomes overwhelming and I can't get it all into a succinct and coherent entry. Simply put: I run and I work on tunnels. I like to write and I love to talk. I have lots of dreams (one is to stop working on tunnels) and wishes (one is to win the lottery so I can stop working on tunnels).

And here is when I start to feel like I need to write something profound or amusing or - I don't know! But today is different. I'm just going to post. I have never done that before.