Running and Writing

I promise...I really am training.  I really am taking this seriously.  I really am following a plan.  I am just not writing about it!  Not sure why, but I have several great starts to blog entries that just didn't make it to the "posting" stage.  I suck at blog writing!!
Here is how I started my Baltimore Marathon post...

October 10, 2013

Saturday I will be running my 10th Baltimore Marathon.  Of course that is what I said last year at this time, and it didn't quite work out that way.  But lightening doesn't usually strike twice in the same way, so I am optimistic that things will go smoothly and I can finally have that 10th finish in the books.  It is fun to look back at some of the race photos through the years and realize how much has changed.
I was all road runner then, sleek and fast (well, not so much fast (or sleek), but fast -ER), and so serious!  Just like every other runner before the marathon, I would bounce up and down, all wound up and anxiously waiting for the gun.  I started too fast, kept going too fast, but interestingly enough, never finished too fast!  But I always finished...

Good thing I am better at finishing runs than I am at finishing blog entries....

And here is how that story ended...

October (?) 2013:

The marathon went well - I ran conservatively and while I didn't make my time goal, I wasn't unhappy with my time.

  The last few miles were tough, and immediately after crossing the finish line I "left" the stingers, oranges and everything else I ate in the porta pot, but after that, I felt fine and walked the mile back to the hotel and drove home.  I was happy to have completed my 10th Baltimore Marathon, and even happier knowing that for the last 13 years or so, I have been in good enough shape to complete several marathons and/or ultras each year.    And while this is not politically correct to write, it wasn't the 10th finish of this marathon that will stick with me, it is the fact that I puked, wiped my  mouth and moved on as if nothing had even happened.  I know, not the "Rocky" moment for most, but for me, it proved to me that I was tough enough!  And that is what I need as I ramp up the training for Umstead.

Next up is Stone Mill 50.  Check back in a few months and I may have gotten around to actually writing about it!!