300 days of beauty, day 38 [perseverance]

 

I've continued my training for a half-marathon. It has required discipline and mental fortitude that I have not tapped since I trained for my black belt test. There is beauty in the work, the aches, the pain, and the exhaustion. Last Friday I completed an eight-mile run, a very slow eight miles I might add. I have never run a distance of that length. I have hiked more, but that is different. I was so tired at the end of this run, while I was cooling down and hydrating, I was eating a banana and I bit into the the peel without realizing it. My hands could hardly continue to peel the banana.

The end of the run is still the best--like getting to take snow boots off at the end of a day of skiing.

300 days of beauty, day 31

I'm training for a half-marathon. I swore I'd never do one and I'm pretty sure I thought every friend who did was crazy, but here I am. Today was my first long run, 5 miles. I've done 5 miles two other times in my existence, so I was apprehensive.

My husband mapped out a 2.5 mile loop that I could lap. He tried to convince me that laps were bad, but I didn't listen. It was not fun to run by my car and know I had to do all of that over again. So, no more lap loops!

It was windy, icy and muddy in spots, but I made it. I'm hobbled now, but it felt very good.

The loop takes a wide birth around a community lake. After finishing my five miles, I walked up the embankment to this view. 

Beautiful. Serene. Peaceful.

I did some stretching until I couldn't take the wind anymore and sauntered back to my car. 

Running is such a mental game. I can feel elated, angry, discouraged, and sick in the course of each mile. I question whether or not I can do this. I talk in my head. I pray. I pound out lyrics...word by word, note by note, each helping my stride stay constant, to not give up.

Each year I go after something that I just didn't think I could do. Those feats I had avoided because I assumed I would fail. This spring I'm tackling the half-marathon. And my afternoon run culminating with this iced-over-lake-scape became my first big notch toward my goal.

Ask me how excited I am when I can't walk tomorrow...