It's "Only" a Marathon
I went to the Dr. office on Monday. He said the words that I’ve wanted to
hear, “yes Eva, you can run”. He
said lots of other words too, but I must admit that I wasn’t nearly as focused
on them as I was on my clearance.
Yes, there are more things to do with my “treatment plan” and yes, I’m
not fully healed…cartiledge tears take time…but I can resume training. YES!
Next, I had to decide how much I wanted to push it on
Saturday. It killed me to miss
Segahunda after my injury, and I searched the internet to find another trail marathon. It was between a race in Philly or
Mohican. I NEEDED to race. I was willing to travel, and I wanted hills, mud, roots,
single track---the whole nine yards.
Rog and I both had a couple DNS's that were bothering us. We both ultimately decided to run
Mohican. He was doing the 50 miler
and me the marathon.
The problem was, he was working his subtle powers of
persuasion to get me to join him on the 50M. I said,”no”, but I was thinking about it. He brought in reinforcements. I said “no” to her...still thinking
about it. Then I went for a
run, and I said “no” for myself. I stopped thinking about it after that.
Yes, I could do the 50, and I was tempted, but this is not
the time. I decided to actually put a few of my under-used common
sense brain cells to work, and blast out the best marathon possible. It will be number 39-the age I was when I ran my first marathon.
Rog tried one more time—“you will love this course—you’ll be
kicking yourself”.
Nope, I’m still good.
Roger, without your encouragement, I would not be half the runner that I am today, nor would I have ever crossed my first 100 mile distance. You challenge me to be my best, and I am forever grateful. Thank you.
I cut the course up into roughly thirds. The first third, I got in a single-track conga line
with a pace I found manageable. It
was fun and there were some amazing climbs. I was happy nothing was hurting more than Advil could take care
of. I knew immediately it was
going to be a good day.
The next third was my playground, and I understood exactly
what Roger meant. There were
rocks, roots, mud, river crossings, root walls to climb and a spectacular
waterfall. I texted Rog that I loved
the course. He knew I would.
The final third, things were feeling great, so I decided to
go chicking. I passed EVERY runner
that came into my line of vision…33 (Chara) in total. I was
running strong, fast and with a purpose.
I can’t remember the last time I opened up my stride like that and let
loose.
I crossed the finish line utterly spent. I sat down on the grass and
reflected how blessed I am to do something I love so much. My injury forced some rest on my
over-trained muscles, and it brought me back to that euphoria that I feel when
I hit single track. I most
certainly could have done 50 miles—the hip was ready, but I didn’t feel like I
had to prove anything to myself.
Rather, I am confident that I'm healthy enough to run the rest of my race schedule. Sorry buddy, I'm not kicking myself, but I will be back next year.
So, in the end, I may have “only” run a marathon, but to me
it was so much more.
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