That Just Happened!

Since the Memphis Marathon last December, I have run just 1 run of 13.1 miles. All the rest have been lesser runs and many filled with pain and disappointment. Due to other setbacks, some running related and some not, I have missed the following long runs over the past several weeks:

• 13 miles
• 10 miles
• 15 miles
• 16 miles
• 12 miles

This was not something I planned and certainly nothing I wanted. I never could have anticipated the struggle I would have after last year's marathon. Today I was faced with the realization that I had to try to ignore several missed training weeks and long runs if I was going to catch up in this training. My longest training run has been 12 miles and I have not run longer than this distance since April. Today I had no choice. I had to try an 18 mile run.

2 hours, 55 minutes and 49 seconds later, I finished. No stops, no pain (other than pain associated with running 18 miles!) My watch counts down from 18 miles to 0. Once I got down to 4.90 I started getting really excited. I watched it tick down to 4.89 which meant I had just passed the distance of a half marathon which was the longest I had run in 11 months! As my watch finally hit 0, I was speechless. Not only was I able to run the second longest run of my training plan (only 1 20 mile run is left in 2 weeks) but I did it with relative ease. It was also the longest run I have EVER run without having to stop and walk during the process.

So for the first time since this training started, I feel the marathon is within reach. I have confidence that maybe.. just maybe.. I can do this again. More important than my ability to cross a finish line is the money raised for St. Jude. At $1,260 I have already had more people and more money donated in my name than all of last year. Not only do I want to do this for myself but more importantly for the children of St. Jude. I want to do this for the hope that one day I'll have to find another cause because this one has ended due to a cure. I also want to find the finish line for the people who have given sacrificially for this cause and placed their trust in me to be able to finish this race.

While I don't know what the next month will bring, my plan is to again stand at the starting line and look back over the course of my training. No one knows what might happen during a marathon but it is a wonderful feeling to stand at the starting line and know you have prepared for this race. I anticipate standing at this line and thinking back to today. After 10 months of disappointments and injury, today may be the day I got my confidence back and perhaps my sense of excitement.

As I was in the middle of my near 3 hour run today, I remember thinking that the marathon doesn't start the day of the race. The marathon starts several weeks before when the training gets hard and the runner gains the confidence that running 26.2 miles is fading out as a dream and fading in as a possible reality.

For me I think it started today.