I believe a month just passed me by there. It's been a blur.
This semester I have two very challenging courses that force me to use math-related brain cells that have been dormant for 15 years. (Did I ever really know what natural logarithm was?)
Also, I finally asked for a job change at work. Constantly being in front of a classroom for eight hours a day was wearing me down. I now am in a new role of writing training materials for the physicians and nurses that use our software. It is still demanding work, but the focus of it is a much better fit for me right now.
My workouts have been falling by the wayside lately. I dutifully set my alarm every morning and then hit snooze ten times until I am actually running late. I always feel like crap when I am not working out regularly. I felt like I needed a goal to work toward. I needed a reason not to hit snooze again.
So I signed up for a marathon. I have fun four before, but it has been several years, and I honestly thought my achy, child-bearing hips couldn't take it again. I ran a tentative five miles, then eight, then ten with no problems. This past weekend I was all the way up to 14, more than half way there! My feet are riddled with blisters, but otherwise, I am feeling good. My sister and I are running the marathon together, and we're going to make it a long, family weekend event. We've run several marathons separately but this will be our first together. (And she's had five kids, so I can't complain much.)
I started running when I was 13, and it has always been a part of my life. Crossing the finish line of my first marathon and feeling the weight of the medal around my neck was one of the proudest, most exhilarating moments of my life. Running makes me feel athletic and powerful. When I was struggling with my hip and lower back problems, I felt a lot of sadness that I would have to give up running. I certainly had to cut back for awhile. I am a lot creakier than I when I was 22 and hadn't given birth to three children, but I still feel athletic and powerful when I lace up my running shoes. And I can't wait to cross that finish line again.
--MM
