From a Recent Conversation...

Running has made me a nicer person. I’m not as stressed as I used to be. It allows me time to think and time to feel. I’ve learned to deal with problems and to let others go. One long run has taught me more about who I am than all the meditation I’ve ever done combined. I have learned to dig in and find out what I can do when I don’t think I can do any more. Most of this comes from the long runs…20, 30 or more miles. I would love to be at the point where I could do that every weekend – 30 or more miles. I learned a lot about myself on Sunday between Miles 35 and 40 – especially the ones Koach wasn’t there for. And somewhere in the last four miles I found even more. The 50 was a long way on a boring course. I almost think it was harder because of the repetition. There were too many times it would have been easy to stop. We were at the start/finish line seven times. A few people did – they just called it a day with two 8 mile loops to go. I’m sure there will be a time when I DNF. I’m not sure how I will deal with it. So far I’ve been very, very lucky. Part of that is good training/coaching and part of it is me. Somewhere in me is the will to survive (be it a race or a disease) and it has to be the strongest part of me.