Friday, August 7, 2009

Yesterday

My husband can run an incredible number of miles: 50 miles in under 12 hours in Duluth; 86 miles around Lake Nokomis in 24 hours. Those are just the latest races he's done. But I have held firm: a half marathon. No more.

It is almost time for me to start training for the half marathon I do every fall. I make a very reasonable schedule, train for 8 weeks, practically ruin my family with my crabbiness, run my race and come home with my new autumn colored tshirt and a Lutheran Jar of Jam.

Joel had another suggestion: train like an ultra runner. "The body can do incredible things, Marth," he told me.

I thought about bodies doing incredible things. I thought about giving birth and I thought about going to war. The one has the advantage of an epidural; the other has the advantage of adrenaline surges when facing the Taliban.

"Ok," I thought. Without the advantage of epidurals nor the Taliban I went to Target, randomly bought a running skort and took off for a training run ala ultra runner: 12 miles without any training whatsoever.

I had a long time to think. I had a long time to pray. I had a long time to wonder if I had enough salt pills and little energy blocks. I had a long time to hope that the person riding a horse down the road was not a hallucination.

I made it. I took every salt tablet I had (8). I came home and ate corn chips. I dragged myself into the shower and then laid in bed to watch a PBS special: mountain climbers freezing to death on Everest. My legs felt like someone had set a slow burning fire to my ankles and stoked it all the way up my thighs.

I got up the next morning and decided... I think I liked it.







No comments:

Post a Comment