That's how many miles I ran in the half-marathon race today. I finished in 2 hours and 20 minutes, which is what I had assumed it would take. I was pleased to be in under 11 minutes per mile. I thought about my parents a few times along the way. Today, I ran for them.
That's a heck of a long way to run, by the way, all in a row. The nice thing about running that long is that you have a long time to think. I enjoyed the run until the 12 mile mark. Then things got to be very discouraging. As ridiculous as this may sound, I was pretty convinced around 12.5 miles that I would not be able to finish. I was trying to tell myself, at the time, that it's pretty stupid to think that I couldn't make it another stinking half mile. After all, I'd already run 12.5 miles.
When the road split and the full marathoners went on to run another 13.1 miles I thought to myself "how in the world can they do it?" I'd like to try. I need to increase my pace though and figure out how to prevent these ****ing blisters. I can't imagine what would happen to my feet if I ran the full.
That's a heck of a long way to run, by the way, all in a row. The nice thing about running that long is that you have a long time to think. I enjoyed the run until the 12 mile mark. Then things got to be very discouraging. As ridiculous as this may sound, I was pretty convinced around 12.5 miles that I would not be able to finish. I was trying to tell myself, at the time, that it's pretty stupid to think that I couldn't make it another stinking half mile. After all, I'd already run 12.5 miles.
When the road split and the full marathoners went on to run another 13.1 miles I thought to myself "how in the world can they do it?" I'd like to try. I need to increase my pace though and figure out how to prevent these ****ing blisters. I can't imagine what would happen to my feet if I ran the full.
You ask: "what does someone look like after they've run a half marathon?" Something like this:
Something occurred to me while I was running and perhaps it takes having almost two and a half hours to reflect on things in order to figure something like this out. My whole life, in general terms, I've followed the rules, stayed the course and done what I am supposed to. I have been careful to make the right decision, be highly logical, maintain high ethics and be an all-around dudley do-right. In the past year I've had to think more critically about situations at work that may not follow the same path. Through this process of understanding politics and when is the most appropriate time to do what is right versus doing what is mostly right, or partially right I've had the opportunity to consider how this concept applies to my own life. What I figured out today is that I am tired of being perfect. I'm tired of doing everything right. I don't want to make the most logical choice 100% of the time. Sometimes I just want to do something that *I* want to do and I don't care anymore if it isn't logical or right. I suppose one may find a variety of terms to describe this self evaluation/realization but for now I am just going to go with the flow and see where I lead. Carpe Diem.
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