These past few months have been pretty wild for me and I appreciate your patience during that time. I’ve had numerous people reach out asking when I’m going to start blogging regularly again and the answer is right now! I thought I’d debrief on the marathon quickly for anyone interested.
On April 18th I ran the Boston Marathon as a part of the Dana Farber Cancer Institute team. Training for the marathon was the hardest thing I’ve ever done, but running the Boston Marathon was the most rewarding thing I’ve ever done. It’s something I’ve always wanted to do, it’s on my “bucket list,” if you will, but I never thought I’d actually do it. I never thought I’d ever have the time and motivation to dedicate to such a commitment. I was very wrong. On a whim I decided I’d apply to run. When I was accepted 4 weeks later I was ecstatic. And nervous. And wondering what the heck I just signed up for.
The first week of training was the hardest. I cried a lot that week. It was 20 degrees out and I was in no way prepared for this. By the time I ran my first 15 mile long run, 11 weeks later, I was jumping up and down when Al opened the door to let me in. I couldn’t believe I’d actually run that far and felt amazing before, during and after it. It was amazing how far I’d come.
My mindset changed the day of that run. It changed to I can do this, I will do this. From that point on my training was extremely emotional. I was overwhelmed by the outpouring support from friends, family, strangers, everyone. It started to really sink in why I was running this marathon and who I was running in memory of. And it started to sink in that I was actually going to accomplish this.
And I did. I finished my first marathon and I loved every second of it. 26.2 miles is a long way to run. It’s a long way to be with your own thoughts, but it was also a perfect way to reflect on the past months and the accomplishment of reaching this goal.
The most important thing I learned during this whole process was about time. We’re all famous for saying we don’t have time to do this or that, though if it’s something you truly want you’ll find the time. I never thought I’d have the “time” to train and run a marathon. I work eleven hour days which leaves little time on each end to run. What I realized though was how much extra time I actually did have. Because I was able to do it. It took creative thinking and extreme daily planning, but I did it and it was all worth it.
A few days after the marathon a Facebook friend posted this on her wall, “You will never “find” time for anything. If you want time, you must make it.” I thought it was the perfect way to come off of training and into my next adventure.
A few photos for you from the day:
6:30 AM heading to Hopkinton
Mile 9: stopping to see Mimi and Aunt Jean (above) and Aunt Kath (below)
your an inspiration to us all…GO LINDS!!!
Congratulations!!!! I was thinking of you that day. I now feel pretty lazy myself.