Nearly six months ago my friend Amber and I signed up for the LA Marathon. It was a week before my 30th birthday, and although I had sworn off marathons forever after running the SF Marathon seven years ago, I agreed to join her - something about leaving my twenties behind and feeling old(er) clouded my judgment.
Training actually started out strong. I felt good and was falling in love with running again.
Then I got sick.
Then my kids got sick.
Then I got sick again.
Pretty soon I was seven weeks out and only had one measly nine mile run to my name (when you're staring down 26.2 miles 9 seems pretty measly.) I knew better than to keep striving (this old(er) body would definitely sustain injury if pushed that hard), but I didn't want to ditch my friend. I told Amber I would still head to LA with her but would jump in halfway rather than run the whole thing.
Then Amber, after a 16 mile long run, had sever pain in her leg. Stress fracture. The doctor told her no running for a month.
With my friend sidelined I decided to defer my entry until the 2014 race. Except the LA Marathon won't let you defer your entry. You have to run or kiss your $125 entry fee good-bye.
I hate wasting money. So, Amber donated her race bib and I recruited my friend Mollie to jump into the race with me. Our awesome husbands drove us the the midway point, we waited for the "regular runners" (those with times slower than an 8 minute mile) and jumped in. It was awkward at first. And we had to giggle when a bystander commented that our enthusiastic "hello's" seemed a bit to peppy for people who had (supposedly) just ran 22 miles. But all-in-all we had a fantastic time.
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| And best yet, while we were running Parker got to meet Jesus |
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