19 or 20 miles
It is a mere two weeks before the Austin marathon. It was 20 degrees when Suzanne and I started our run, but it soon warmed up to 40 and our jackets came off. We ran well and easy for two "older girls" for the three hours or so we were out there.
What does a person talk about for three hours while running? People ask me this and the answer is, pretty much everything and anything - usually not sex though - we women do have some limits on our conversation. Today we discuss how cool it was that we viewed a half marathon as something that we hardly had to train for. We immediately realized we could not say this to any one else but each other, otherwise we would be bragging. We talk about our children, our jobs and how we will spend the Saturday. We mention how good a coffee and Baileys would be and the thought of that keeps us from noticing that our quads are sore and my Achilles tendinitis is making itself known - but not enough to make me stop.
A young girl - maybe 18 or 20 years old - breezes by us, her blemish free, wrinkle free legs carrying her without any effort. She is wearing cute little black shorts. We talk about how she has no idea how good she looks and decide when we are 70 we will realize we have no idea how good we look now. Is it possible to live so much in the moment that you can say "I look really good", and be happy with what you have? I don't really think so despite all that the self help books tell you.
We talk about plastic surgery and how we could get rid of our FOP - a slang term which refers to the "apron area" which is the saggy skin that, despite having strong abs, will never go away if you have had three or four babies. There are so many things that people could have plastic surgery for if money was no object. But we have earned every imagined wrinkle - and we really do look good, at least this is what we tell ourselves.
So often, the voices in our head are negative - commenting about what is wrong, how we are wrong and not good enough. When I run I can stifle the voices and imagine myself beating Julie the prom queen in high school. She was the girl with everything including a telephone in her bathroom. I also imagine that I am tall and willowy instead of short and stubby. Stubby but strong.
It's a very hilly route that we ran, but good training because the Austin marathon will not be that hilly and at sea level. We head back after some time (but today the time went faster than it does on some days). The sky is so blue and it is a perfect day. After a handful of jelly beans and some Gatorade, we run to our favorite gas station. Suzanne uses the bathroom and I get us some watermelon Gatorade to refill our empty bottles.
We get to my house and the baileys and coffee sure does taste good after 19 or 20 miles on the last Saturday of January 09.
What does a person talk about for three hours while running? People ask me this and the answer is, pretty much everything and anything - usually not sex though - we women do have some limits on our conversation. Today we discuss how cool it was that we viewed a half marathon as something that we hardly had to train for. We immediately realized we could not say this to any one else but each other, otherwise we would be bragging. We talk about our children, our jobs and how we will spend the Saturday. We mention how good a coffee and Baileys would be and the thought of that keeps us from noticing that our quads are sore and my Achilles tendinitis is making itself known - but not enough to make me stop.
A young girl - maybe 18 or 20 years old - breezes by us, her blemish free, wrinkle free legs carrying her without any effort. She is wearing cute little black shorts. We talk about how she has no idea how good she looks and decide when we are 70 we will realize we have no idea how good we look now. Is it possible to live so much in the moment that you can say "I look really good", and be happy with what you have? I don't really think so despite all that the self help books tell you.
We talk about plastic surgery and how we could get rid of our FOP - a slang term which refers to the "apron area" which is the saggy skin that, despite having strong abs, will never go away if you have had three or four babies. There are so many things that people could have plastic surgery for if money was no object. But we have earned every imagined wrinkle - and we really do look good, at least this is what we tell ourselves.
So often, the voices in our head are negative - commenting about what is wrong, how we are wrong and not good enough. When I run I can stifle the voices and imagine myself beating Julie the prom queen in high school. She was the girl with everything including a telephone in her bathroom. I also imagine that I am tall and willowy instead of short and stubby. Stubby but strong.
It's a very hilly route that we ran, but good training because the Austin marathon will not be that hilly and at sea level. We head back after some time (but today the time went faster than it does on some days). The sky is so blue and it is a perfect day. After a handful of jelly beans and some Gatorade, we run to our favorite gas station. Suzanne uses the bathroom and I get us some watermelon Gatorade to refill our empty bottles.
We get to my house and the baileys and coffee sure does taste good after 19 or 20 miles on the last Saturday of January 09.
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