One in a Million

I just read an article from The Washington Running Report about the Marine Corps Marathon sellout and fiasco that happened earlier this week.  I didn't plan on running MCM this year, but since I did last year, I felt some kind of kinship with all that were sitting in front of their computers watching the minutes click down until registration opened.  And because of the record sellout last year and the increasing popularity in the sport (Hey, I'm a new girl on the scene, and even I can see the growth!), I was really curious to see how it would play out this year.  So I watched and read for 2 hours and 27 minutes, and my heart sank when the announcement was made.

Now, I could spout off on how Active.com FUBAR'd registration for a 2nd major race in as many months.  I could even find argument in Active's defense.  And I supposed I could go on an on about the pros and cons of a lottery system and pray to the heavens that the idea qualifying times never enters the picture.  But I won't.

So, why am I writing?  Not why you think.

Out of all the "blah blah hooha", one line in this article struck a chord:

"Last year, 23,519 runners finished Marine Corps..."

We've all heard the saying, "you are one in a million!"  Hell, we've probably said it a time or two.

But I am NOT one in a million.

I am one in 23,519.

And I think that's pretty cool.

Words for Wednesday

Today folks, today I've decided we will get our weekly dose of words through lyrics.
I'm not a big fan of the "BIG" word, but I love this song nonetheless.

excerpts from  F**kin' Perfect by P!nk

You're so mean,
When you talk, About yourself, You are wrong.
Change the voices, In your head
Make them like you Instead.

........

The whole world stares so I swallow the fear,
The only thing I should be drinking is an ice cold beer.
So cool in line and we try, try, try,
But we try too hard, it's a waste of my time.
Done looking for the critics, cause they're everywhere
They don't like my jeans, they don't get my hair
We change ourselves and we do it all the time

Why do we do that? Why do I do that?
(Why do I do that?)

.........

Pretty, pretty please
Don't you ever, ever feel
Like your less than f**kin' perfect.
Pretty, pretty please
If you ever, ever feel
Like your nothing
You're f**kin' perfect to me.

Words for Wednesday

Running is the classical road to self-consciousness, self-awareness, and self-reliance.

-Noel Carroll, Irish middle distance runner

as found through Runner's World

Words for Wednesday - in a meme

I love memes.  They are so much fun!  I found this one on Facebook, I wish I could remember where so I can give credit to them.  So my apologies to the creator, but it was too good not to share.

I think we ALL need to be reminded of this and often, myself included!  So here is your friendly reminder for today!!

Happy Wednesday, Friends :)

How 'bout them (Green)apples

Imagine yourself, out on a nice long run with a group of friends on a beautiful day.  You all stop for a moment to take in some water and nutrition, and you notice a slight nag in your knee.  You think to yourself, "huh, that feels a little funny."  You resume your run, take a mental inventory of your body and the sensation seemed to have disappeared so you don't think twice.  Not even the following week when you had to cut your run slightly short because of the searing pain shooting through your knee.  "It'll be fine," you tell yourself, "I'll just need to take it easy the coming week."  And that seemed to be the answer.  The following week was still a little ouchie, but nothing too drastic so you thought you could go on a hike the following day.  And you still thought you were fine, even when each step down hill felt like your knee was on fire. "It's okay, you just need rest."

Week after week, you keep trying different things to help it, to make it better.  Normal activity with ice and ibuprofen. Light running.  No running with different activities.  It'll be fine, right?  I mean, you think you're just being a baby about it, you just need to harden up a bit.  Week after week.  Then you finally realize it is not getting better and it's not going to get better without help.  

I've put myself on a running hiatus since Myrtle Beach.  This past Wednesday marked the end of the hiatus with a 10 minute run.  I used this as a test.  If things did not feel 100%, I was calling a sports doc.  

So, I called the sports doc.  The folks at Greenapple Sports and Wellness were kind enough to squeeze me in and fast!  I ventured into the big city of Charlotte (well beyond my 2-exit bubble) where Dr. Cooper took some xrays and assessed what needed to be assessed. Great news! I'm not broken!  Yes, my patella is riding near the outside of my knee, yes my IT band is tighter than Catwoman's cat suit and one of those two things is aggravating my "lateral femoral cutaneous nerve," which for the sake of this blog will be called the "cutie" nerve because I will never be able to remember nor spell that again.  But, it's nothing that can't fixed with time and hard work.  I can do that.

The moral of this story?  If you have a knobby knee and are dressed in a cat suit, your cutie nerve is probably embarrassed and you must get everything fixed.  

 

Words for Wednesday

Do not fear going forward slowly; fear only to stand still.

                                                                                        

                                               - Chinese Proverb

To Marathon Or Not to Marathon....

That is the question.

I honestly don't know which is harder, deciding to run your first marathon or deciding if you want to run a second.

For the first one, let's be honest, you REALLY don't know what you've signed up for.  I mean, yes, you know it's going to be hard.  It's 26.2 miles for heaven's sake, how can it not?  You know it's going to be a big commitment of time and focus. You've heard all the stories about long training runs, lost toe nails, sore muscles, but you hear about this "amazing feeling" once you cross that finish line.  So you register for The Big One because you need to see for yourself what it's all about.

Now, for the second one, let's be honest, now YOU KNOW.  Now you know all about sore muscles, lost toe nails, aches where you didn't even know things existed.  You've since named your foam roller because, well since we're being honest, you two really need to be on a first-name-basis to roll the places you need to roll.  You've learned about epsom salts and Biofreeze.  You've had your crash course in gels and chomps, whether or not your GI system can handle regular or x2 caffeine, or if any caffeine at all.  And hopefully you learned this lesson while you were safe at home near a bathroom and not out in the middle of a run (no pun intended). You know what it means to be truly exhausted, you know that once the training cycle starts your social life takes a bit of a hit.  Not to mention the no-beer-for-a-month thing.  And then, throw in the I'm-unable-to-move-any-part-of-my-body-for-a-week-after thing.

You now know all this.  You now understand what marathon is, what it entails.
But now, now you've already figured out how to hydrate, how to eat, if you can tolerate caffeine or not.  You have named your foam roller and you two are now BFFs.  Now you've figured out the more difficult stuff, you've lived the learning curve, you're now a step ahead.

And you now know what doing a marathon really means.

So. So now I know.
Decisions, decisions.  Why on earth am I considering another?  Especially after the Battle of Myrtle Beach?

To marathon or not to marathon.  That is the question.