"Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, Who is in you, Whom you have received from God? ... So use every part of your body to give glory back to God..." 1 Corinthians 6:19-20

Sunday, May 3, 2015

When Good things come to an End

All Good Things Must Come To And END. That is exactly what happened at mile 14.
My little "Pep in my Step" had expired.

If you're going through hell, keep going. ~Winston Churchill
I pass this bench on this route.
 
Today Plan: 20 miler, in the heat, 78 degrees. Try and get acclimated to the beating sun, the hot air, sweat, thirst, and total discomfort.
Not running to break any records or incur bragging rights, running to see how miserable I can be. Building mental stamina more than miles.

At fourteen miles, I was no longer running a 8:30 pace, I quit looking at my pace a while back, my lack of water was occupying my mind.
I was beginning to believe everyone who calls me "CRAZY". This may have been a bad idea. It seemed brilliant when I created it.
  • I was sweaty
  • I was hot
  • I was burnt..Its hard to tell a Mexican to put Sunscreen on...The Irish makes me stubburn!
  • My stomach was angry at me for eating so much at Panera's.
  • I was out of water
I thought Andy was going to bring me water.
I text him "Seriously, I thought you were bringing me water..."
He responded very quick "Where r u?"
I gave him my location, and he replied a few minutes later "Your almost home now, McDonalds?"
HE KNEW BETTER...It was just  a couple minutes till I saw him coming down Holly rd.
Andy had ice cold water and a bottle of water both for me.
"Nita,you wanna get in??" It was soo tempting. I wanted to jump in and curl up and die.
The cemetery is breathtaking.

As he pulled away, I started to cry in my head. My skin smelled like burning flesh mixed with apocalyptic sweat.

I had to just Grit it out. Not even my Playlist was going to save me now.
I finished, my last couple miles were UGLY. But I didn't QUIT.

I am not a masochist. Pain is important though. You will learn more about what you are made of if you can get through pain.
Pain will teach you, Pain will train you and you will thank her later.
You will discover characteristic traits you never knew you had when you decide to make friends with what you think is the ENEMY.
You will discover how much more you have, how much more you can take and how much more you can Give.

Who out there is training for a Spring Marathon?
QUESTION: HOW MANY 20 MILERS DOES YOUR TRAINING HAVE YOU RUNNING?

Blessing,
Anita

3 comments:

  1. My grandparents are at the national cemetery. Say "hi" next time you're there :)

    btw, I stopped doing 20s when I switched to Hansons and it's been working for me. One of these days I'll write a post about why I quit 20s.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I was kicking my heels up with excitement because I ran just over 60 miles for the month if April! My farthest ever run is 8 miles at once. I will always just be a little runner and I am ok with that, I run to stay healthy. We are already in temps of 101+ and we are still in spring, this summer will be brutal! So my miles will decline once again! Great job running all those miles! Carri~A Running bee

    ReplyDelete
  3. I agree that pain is important, especially for runners. When it starts getting hard I tend to find myself thinking about the religious idea that tell us to imbibe pain as part of the human experience: Atenism worshipped the sun that both drove the rain and that brought drought and sickness; St. Sebastian sought out pain as part of the price of honouring the glory of God; and our Hindu friends can worship Kali Ma, the goddess of death and pain. I think what all this tells us is that deliberately seeking pain as part of running suggests a maturity in one's approach to life - a determination to accept all parts of the human experience, even the hard ones.

    ReplyDelete