When all else fails....Just keep running!

Today's Miles: 5 min warm-up; 3 miles easy; 5 min cool-down on the Steady-Tready

Those were the words I yelled to a group of runners who looked like they had given up hope at 11.2 of 13.1 miles in the 2011 Knoxville Covenant Health Half Marathon. It may sound like an odd thing to yell at a bunch of ladies that had "That Look." You know - the look of sheer physical and mental exhaustion, desperation, depression, thirst and pain...a LOT of pain. For anyone (i.e., a "non-runner") that's ever run a half-marathon, you know that look at 11.2 miles in and knowing there is one last, very long incline and a short hill before the finish.

But, those are the words I yelled because that's the mantra I have adopted over the last year and a half on my journey to become "a Runner." A year ago, I was in their shoes....Ready to give up. Ready to throw in the towel. Ready to say "Eff-it" and all the miles and hills I've already covered (albeit in a sloth like manner). (And apology - if you've ever run over 10 miles, you have EARNED the right to drop an F-bomb. No worries, it is used rarely, but necessary at 11.2 miles in.) I needed a kick in the butt. I needed someone to yell at me, to coach me, to say "been-there-done-that-it-sucks-but-YOU-CAN-DO-THIS!" I sorta wanted to run the Knoxville "Hills" Half again this spring, but a Stupid-Dumb-Rookie-Running mistake resulted in a severely torn quad in the fall, which kept me from training...physically and mentally. (Never RACE in new shoes with new orthotics! Uh.....DUH!?!?) So, I volunteered to be a course monitor. And I am SO thankful I was put at 11.2 miles.

I've also recently realized that my mantra has expanded beyond my quest to be a runner and encased or encapsulated or imprisoned the other parts of my life. I'm always running...to catch a plane, to catch the next plane, to an appointment with a customer, home to spend time with my husband, off to see his family or mine, wanting to work on my hobbies (photography and gardening) or simply go and enjoy the outdoors in a canoe or on a hike, and of course, out the door to log some miles in my Brooks. Even when I am sitting still, I feel like I'm running or need to be running.....wanting to do so much in so little time and sometimes accomplishing nothing because I'm. Just. So. Tired. Of. Running.

So, that's my life.....constantly running in one form or another on a quest to feel like a real "Runner", to be a better wife, to be a better daughter/in-law/sister/in-law/aunt, to be a better friend, to be a better salesperson/manager/professional woman, to be better to myself. But along the way, I have the pleasure to experience the most hilarious, sad, weird, stupid, unbelievable and incredible things (but mostly just stupid) that for some reason, I feel compelled to blog about! Lucky you.

And there it is...I'm blogging. As dirty as it sounds. Be forewarned - I am a wise-guy (I come by it honestly!), I'm blunt and crass and if you do something/say something stupid...I will blog about it! Simply because it amuses me. You will likely at some point be offended by what I say....Sorry, but still Love Ya!

Gotta run.....