a busy month of travel!

I'm sorry it has been so long since I've posted, especially since so many exciting things have happened! Like A MARATHON.

Two weeks ago, I headed out to San Francisco (my first time on the west coast!) to run the Nike Women's Marathon. I was nervous, excited, relieved and sad (all at once!) for that weekend. Nervous, because I knew what I was getting myself into. Excited, because team in training is an AWESOME group and I knew I'd have an incredible time. Relieved, because I knew that come Monday, I wouldn't have to run for a VERY long time. And sad, because this incredible group I've been running with for five months was reaching the conclusion of its time together.

San Francisco is a great city. I would love to be able to explore the city (and not on foot. for 26.2 miles). I feel like I really associate with the laid back vibe of the city. People are friendly. The food is good. The only aspect I didn't really like was the HILLS. My friend Lauren had a great idea for exploring the city without tiring our legs out before the race. We took one of those double decker tour buses and got to see everything without wasting any energy! I felt very much like a tourist.

The race was very hard. It was a much tougher course than I imagined, and the hills kept coming. I was, however, proud that I completed it no matter how miserable I felt the entire time. This is what I wrote in my journal the morning of the race as kind of a pep talk:

"Marathoning is a microcosm of your life- the strength and effort you use to push through this achievement is the same willpower used to fight through hard situations in life.

I can do this. And I'm going to have fun.

Think about what I am running for. Think about life and what I want to do.

It's just running. I just need to make it from the start sign to the finish. Easy :-)"


This is why running is so emotional for so many people. It becomes much more than just running- it becomes your self. When you devote so much time to one event, your success or failure can really mess with your mind and spirit. Coach Ramon insisted that the achievement of an endurance event is not about race day- it's about the training and hard work you put into it. That being said, the person who starts a marathon is not the same person who finishes one. While running, you have so much time to think about giving up, and that makes it so much more rewarding when you cross ths finish line. This particular marathon was a very teary-eyed one for many- I'm sure our coaches were very relieved when they didn't have to deal with our emotions anymore :-)

From now on, fall will always equal marathon season for me. And New York City is the place to be to experience the marathon magic. This weekend, New York was a very exciting place. Not only was it Halloween weekend (on a Saturday no less!) but it was also marathon weekend. For the first time, I actually got to be a spectator at a race and witness (instead of experience!) the true emotional sport marathon running is.

Have a wonderful week! I'll post more about the marathon(s) soon.