From Graceland, one of my favorite songs of all time.
"There is a girl in New York City, Who calls herself the human trampoline, And sometimes when I'm falling flying Or tumbling in turmoil I say Whoa so this is what she means"
So here I am again, in September, having tumbled for about 5 months since my last post. If there were such a thing, I am sure that my blogging license would have expired by now. It's not that I haven't thought about a new post. I have composed quite a few in my mind, and if only Spock were around to do a Vulcan mind meld with me and was then able to post my thoughts, I wouldn't be feeling guilty. I even felt blogging guilt watching an otherwise very enjoyable movie, Julie and Julia, which is partially about Julie's blogging about Julia Child. The odds of my blog ever being made into a movie are even worse than the odds of my winning the Boston Marathon. And if did get made into a movie, it would likely be a two minute short on YouTube.
Blogging is like running, the hardest thing is to get started. It's best just to start moving forward and not worry about what you haven't done.
When last I wrote, I was basking in the glory of Boston and my fundraising. Then tragedy struck. My friend and running buddy Hannah, whom I have mentioned here before, and who is in her 30's, lost her husband and my friend Gary in a horrible accident on April 28th. Gary would have turned 40 last month, and they have two wonderful,very young children. One of the first things she said to me in her shock was that we were going to run another marathon together. It was an interesting reaction to grief and having one's life turned upside down. I am sure we will run a marathon together one day. Her statement reminded me of a quote that I like so much that I put it on my Facebook profile. It appeared in a 2001 Sports Illustrated story about a a story where 8 runners from a college track team were killed by a drunk driver. One of the surviving runners talked about running as a coping mechanism and said this:
"Runners run," "It's how we deal with stress. It's where we talk with God". The full article is here. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1024410/index.htm
The last line of the article is not my favorite, "Runners run, but only old runners know that life has a way of catching up to you. Then all you can do is stand there and take it." I don't like it, because some days it feels very true. In any event, I do get my spirituality from yoga and running these days, rather than from organized religion. A long run is not only a place to feel like you can talk to God, but it is also a way to feel in control of something, even if it is only my own fitness, and even if there is so much we can never control.
I did keep running after this tragedy. In early summer, I ran the following post marathon events.
May 17, 2009 Quaker Hill Challenge 5K
Quaker Hill, CT
A race put on by Kristen, another friend of mine, as well as fellow blogger and Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge runner (it benefits DFMC). This was one of the hillier 5k courses anywhere, and made many of us think that the village should change its name, in the spirit of accuracy, to Quaker HILLS. I finished in 28:28, a 9:11 pace.
And here are a few more pictures, the first one on the left may be the most unrunner-like picture of me ever, but at least I look happy, and the third is me with my cousin Rachel after the race. She is in her second year at the Tuck School of Business, and what did you think her shirt said?
Next race was June 12, 2009, the Niantic Bay 10K, another charitable fundraiser run by another running friend of mine, Cathy. I finished in 55:44, an 8:58 mile pace. I was doing well for the first half, but it was again very humid and I faded late.
And then on June 20, 2009, I followed up with the Tour de Noank, a favorite 5 mile race that runs by Tim's house. I finished in 43:49.9 which was a 8:46 per mile pace. The most notable thing about this race was the poor organization. An hour before the race they refused to take any more registrations for the race. As a general rule, in both good economys as well as bad, it is a good idea to accept money when people are desperately offering it to you, and all you have to do is take their application and give them a race number and four safety pins, or at least two if you think four is somehow too generous. But the staff was really quite hostile toward accepting money and people really were shaking their heads in disbelief. And it wasn't just some little read blogger who witnessed this. One of the people they wouldn't let register was Amby Burfoot, a winner of the Boston Marathon and the editor of Runner's World for goodness sake. After quite a battle, they allowed him and all the "latecomers" to register.
Shortly thereafter, I started to experience some hip pain. It bothered me all summer, and slowed me down. I ran very little, but did spin classes, many times alongside Kristen, and lifted weights. In any event, it was a frustrating summer all around. I do think my hip pain was related to pain in my lower back and a painful IT band, so stretching and strengthening has at least helped me recently get back to running, most of the time at least, pain-free.I celebrated three straight days of pain free running by running a 5K in Westerly on September 9th, on a course which is one of my favorites. I finished in 27:03, a 8:43 pace.
So if I can stay healthy, I have to decide what my next race is. A few friends are running Bay State on October 18th, but I don't think I have time to get in shape for a really good run, so I am leaning towards a half marathon in Newton Mass on November 15th. The highlight for me would be running down Heartbreak Hill.
I hope its not another 5 months before I write again, and I can let you know what my plans are. The only acceptable excuse for waiting another 5 months is if I do go visit Graceland.
