Rest In Peace

Sometimes you need to remember why you run. Do you do it to lose weight, have a healthy heart, because someone else told you to, or because you love it? I run alot. Many runs I go on, I do for me. I don't care how long it takes me and I may not even have a plan, but I just go out and run until I want to stop. It feels good. I'm reminded, during each of these runs, how grateful I am to be able to do this healthy activity. Or even how grateful I am to have legs to be able to run; how grateful I am to not be sick in a hospital; how grateful I am to be alive. To me, that's what running is all about. It's a celebration of life, and a time to celebrate the lives of everyone who can't run. It gives you the courage, determination, power, and passion with which to live your life. It gives you the motivation to go after your dreams, no matter how lofty. Become the person that you want to be, and never say, "I can't." Keep trying and trying to achieve the impossible. Never give up on your life or the people in it. Stay true and honest with yourself and with others and believe that anything is possible. Steve Jobs reminded us all to live your life with purpose and with love in your heart for everything that you do. May he rest in peace. 

"Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life.  Because almost everything -- all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important.  Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose.  You are already naked.  There is no reason not to follow your heart. ... Stay hungry. Stay foolish."  -Steve Jobs

"That's what a computer is to me:  the computer is the most remarkable tool that we've ever come up with.  It's the equivalent of a bicycle for our minds."  -Steve Jobs

"Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work.  And the only way to do great work is to love what you do.  If you haven't found it yet, keep looking.  Don't settle.  As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it.  And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on.  So keep looking until you find it.  Don't settle."  -Steve Jobs

"Your time is limited, so don't wast it living someone else's life.  Don't be trapped by dogma -- which is living with the results of other people's thinking.  Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.  They somehow already know what you truly want to become.  Everything else is secondary."  -Steve Jobs

I'm Back!!

Well, here I am, many months later from that first blog post. Now THIS TIME, I promise to keep it updated. Ok, everyone says that, but I mean it. No really, the iron distance triathlon is actually over, and it was amazing. But I feel like that was just the start of good things to come. There will be no "post ironman depression" for me. Its been over a week, and I can't stop thinking about what is next in life. Not even when it comes to triathlons for next season and goals in that realm, but life in general. There is a huge list of things I want to do and become involved in right now, and what better time than now to make that happen. I have a lot of energy for life right now, and want to use passion and enthusiasm to take life to the next level. This brief post is just to assure you that I will be back, and will be consistently posted about various life happenings, lessons, experiences...etc. I will also post a super long (naturally) race report from September 11, 2011, when I finished Rev3 Cedar Point FULL distance triathlon...140.6 miles later. For now, peace out. But just for now.

I Run DC

Alright, I've finally got my blog started. This is what occurs when you go home, away from the noisy city, and have nothing to do but relax... oh, and run a marathon.

I came home to the MD on Thursday morning, halfway ready to run 26.2 miles at the National Marathon in DC. My training was decent, but definitely no where near what it should be. I began a yoga teacher training program that took over a lot of my time, and running was seeming to drag me along to a few weeks prior to the marathon. Oh well, I was running for a great cause, Back on my Feet, that helps get the homeless population back up and, well, on their feet. I'll talk more about them at a later date.

Now to the race report:

I made sure my dad and I left the house super early, not because I anticipated traffic getting into DC, but because I anticipated traffic getting into the parking lot. And well, from hearing many other's horror stories, that's just what happened.  We got there with no issues, but some missed the gun and/or had to run a mile to get the start. When the gun went off, it was chilly, but not bad. The first half marathon was a beautiful course through DC, and the first 4 miles I definitely ran SUPER FAST. I looked at my Garmin at one point, and it read 7:56 average for one of the miles. But, it motivated me to just keep running!

The hills of this race were intense and much more than I expected. For others, I'm sure they were just fun little rolling hills, but for me, they were mountains! It slowed me down quite a lot throughout the whole race. (I can't imagine what my time would have been if the course was 100% flat!).  During the first half, I had to dodge a lot of half marathoners who probably didn't start in the right corral, but it was never too congested. The first half ended back at the DC armory, where we split off.

The second half of the course was not as glamorous, although I didn't pay as much attention either because I was dying slightly. This is when the work started. I tried not to slow down, but it was inevitable. Eventually, the 3:45 pacer guys came up behind me and, when I saw them, I said, "SWEET!" and he told me "Don't look back, look forward and keep running!" He was hilarious! He kept cracking jokes with the people he was pacing and knew everyone in his group's name. I stuck with him from mile 17 to 22 or so, then they got a little ahead.

The rest was all guts. I had no major issues, no major pains pop up, but it was just hard. But, in the end, I finished with a net time of 3:49:38. My first goal was under 4 hours, but if I was feeling super good, my goal was under 3:50. Awesomesauce.

I'll post the official pictures as soon as they are available, but, let me warn you, they are probably not pretty.