Marathon Training

So, I'm doing this thing this year; you might have heard about it. It's called the Nashville Country Music Marathon. I'm doing it for a couple reasons.

This was a really good run the day after Thanksgiving.

1) It's a bucket list kind of thing. I have always wanted to run THAT specific marathon. I figure if I run it and decide never to run another than I've checked this one off my list.

2) It seems fitting that its dubbed the Country Music Marathon. For year, lots of years, I railed against country music, or what I thought was country music. The year I hiked the Appalachian Trail, 2003, there were times the radio I carried only received country stations. Low and behold, I discovered that I actually liked country music. Granted, the songs often sent me into tears. That year there was a song about baseball that made me cry. I never would have expect that.

Since 2003 my appreciation has grown for country music. Lots of times it makes me want to roll my eyes (unnecessary rhyming, stupid songs about red solo cups (is that a product-placement or what?), uber-nationalist jingoistic propaganda), but when I get beyond those songs I hear lyrics of living simply, putting love first, the tenderness of families, and life's quirks (the Camo is my Favorite Color song, anyone).

My friend Christina has always held an appreciation for country music. I used to pick on her for it. I came clean about my mutual appreciation when I visited her in December.  We participated in a terrible race with the crowd support of interstate (that we were running on) drivers stalled in traffic (gag on exhaust).

3) With any luck I'll be running around some guys who wear cowboy hats.

4) I've heard there's great crowd support.

5) I feel like I've reached a place where a half-marathon isn't a big deal anymore (I can't believe I just said that). It's not that running 13 miles is easy; it's that I know I can do it. Mentally, I've overcome the hurdle. Even if it didn't seem like I could do it last Saturday on my 13-mile training run with Elizabeth, I DO know it's possible to do it with relative ease and enjoy it.

Me and Elizabeth. I was very happy to be finished running last Saturday. It was a tough run for me (was I dehydrated or under-fueled?) And it was really, really cold. It took at least a mile or two before my fingers and face felt normal on my body.

There's a hiccup in my plan to run this year. To achieve my goal, I need someone with a conversion van waiting at the finish line to pick me up and drive me, non-stop to the middle of South Carolina. I'll sleep in the back and hopefully I can convince my massage therapist and friend Audra to flush the lactic acid from my body as I snooze.

Yes, damnit, I dream big! A marathon, a van with room for a massage table, a driver, my massage therapist, and arrival "just in time" for my evening appearance is possible. I believe it!!

Miracles happen every day, I'm just looking for about six to happen in one day.