One year ago today...

If you are an avid follower of this blog, you may know that this post didn't show up on the date above. I wanted to post it 2 days ago, but only had time to type the title. So...technically, it was one year and 2 days ago, I completed my first half marathon. I had spent the summer training with a great group of experience and novice runners. I was in the best shape of my life and I even finished about 5 minutes than initially predicted. I battled IT band pain for the second half of training, but managed to run virtually pain free on the big day. DH, Cat and my good friend Erin hopped around the course and cheered me on in four different places with DH running along beside me the last few blocks. The first 10 miles were fairly easy, the last 3 were grueling, but the finish line was oh-so sweet! This year I have missed that process so much. I miss the group of friends I made while training and the connection I had with a group of people outside of my work circle. I missed the physical rewards too. There's no other endorphin pay-off like that at the end of a long run gone well. The psychic benefits of completing a new milage or improving your time are great. That's not to mention the fun of being able to eat pretty much anything when you are putting in the big miles. On the anniversary of what was one of my major accomplishments to date I struggled with the desire to go cheer on my friends. Up to the last minute I thought maybe I could make it to some point on the course to see at least one of them. In the end, it didn't happen. Instead, I am in the worst shape physically than I've been in in 4 years. I am sleep deprived and none of my clothes fit right. I am lucky to walk one mile and am sore for a full day afterwards. I smell not of sweat but of soured milk, and I've traded my sports bra for a nursing bra. This year I trained for a different type of endurance test. I think of this one as more like an ultra marathon (something I will likely never complete as a runner). In this training I still made it to the gym fairly often, but instead of getting more trim, I was happy to become more round. The first nine months of this were fairly easy, the past 3 weeks, a different kind of grueling and the work in the middle was both the most painful and the most rewarding I've ever had. In two and a half more weeks I am allowed to lace up my running shoes again. This time I'll get to try out some new equipment...the BOB. While I dream about hitting the pavement for an easy 3 miles, I have it on good authority that I will be starting from scratch and lucky to run for 5 minutes. Not only that, but I have no idea how I'll find the time to go out at all. I haven't had much experience in endurance sports. The half marathon is it. I'm confident that motherhood is endurance training of another kind. This time there is no training group, no schedule made up for me, no place on the web to log my time, and no one at the finish line to cheer for me. DH is, however, the most dedicated training partner anyone could ask for and I have a little boy as eager as any to train along with us. Maybe next year I can do the half AND be a mom. This year, I am grateful to have accomplished them separately. To my Strider friends who completed the race again today, "Congrats!" and I look forward to trying to join you again in the spring.