With...YOU!

Yesterday marked the beginning of week 5 of my training for the Flying Pig Marathon. It was a 16 mile run on the Legacy Trail in Lexington, which is a fantastic way to begin one's day! The trail is relatively flat, which is nice this early in training. I know the Pig has some significant hills that I need to prepare for, but, first, just getting my lungs and legs back.

Was pleased with my time, 2:15:42, and that my pace, 8:29/mile, was pretty consistent.

One thing I am noticing that I don't like and will need to consciously work on, is that seemingly no matter what my distance is, the last mile is almost always the slowest or close to it. I am not sure what accounts for that. Maybe I slack off knowing that I am about finished? I know that for a couple of weeks in January by the time I neared the last mile or so I had acute pain where I'd bruised my left foot tripping over a guitar stand while carrying a chair out of Emily's bedroom. Ouch :) No, I am not particularly graceful. But, the pain is gone...will tell that story soon because it's fun!

There was more traffic on the trail yesterday at 7:30 than I'd anticipated. Some sort of running club. A guy walking his dogs. A group of guys having a blast playing what appeared to be some cross between flag football and ultimate frisbee. On my return loop they were covered in mud, which I'd guess made it even better.

I listened to 3 podcasts:
1) The Longest Swim on The Story.  This episode featured two stories of perseverance; one regarding Diana Nyad's attempts to swim from Cuba to Florida, the other an interview with Ian Heigh, who leads the charge in maintaining Edinburgh's Forth Bridge. Nyad is a 60something member of both the national and international swimming halls of fame,  who, in 1979 recorded the longest swim in history - from Bimini in the Bahamas to Florida. She'd tried to swim from Cuba to Florida before but not made it. After a 31 year 'retirement' from swimming she has now tried again 3 times - the last effort foiled when she was attacked by a school of jellyfish 2 hours in...incredibly she pressed on another 39 hours! Listening to her describe the attack made me feel like a big baby for sure. Seeing a jellyfish is enough to get me out of the water. She plans to try again in Julyish. Listening to her joy for life and her tenacious approach to conquering this goal was uplifting to say the least, and probably accounts for the extra spring in my step the first 4  miles or so of my run.

I also enjoyed the second part, which chronicled 100+ years of maintaining the world's first major steel bridge, Forth Rail Bridge in Scotland. The story focused specifically on the painting of the bridge in its unique shade of red, which generally took about 3 years to complete and due to a constant barrage of water, wind and haar (sea mist) from the time of its construction had to be repainted virtually as soon as the previous paint job was finished - giving the world the saying 'painting the Forth Bridge,' which is used to describe working on a seemingly endless and endlessly repetitive task...like weeding one's garden or, well, training for a marathon. I guess you could see why I'd enjoy the story.  Now, the bridge has been painted with some new high tech paint that is supposed to last 20+ years. We'll see :) Heigh, who loves the Forth and his job caring for her, sounds both sure that it will, and hopeful that it won't.

2) How Magic Mushrooms Work, on 'Stuff You Should Know' from How Stuff Works. Funny at times, compelling throughout, Josh and Chuck provide a thorough account of the history of Magic Mushrooms, legal issues regarding their growth and use, an explanation of how they work, and more.  Mostly served as mind numbing background fuzz for miles in the middle of my run.

3) Can You Vacation in Antarctica, on 'Stuff You Should Know.  Short answer: yes. Short (rhetorical) follow up: Why would you want to? There are great pictures on the internet that are far more accessible and viewable from the warmth and comfort of, well, anywhere besides Antarctica.  You can run a marathon in Antarctica. For $16,000.

I hope this part doesn't get buried, but as I mentioned in an earlier post, I am not merely running this marathon for the fun of it. I am running to raise awareness and funds for the Not For Sale Campaign that works to free and educate slaves throughout the world. It's insane that I can run carefree on the lovely Legacy Trail while all over the world there are more enslaved people than there have ever been. I'm guessing even an Antarctic vacation could sound appealing to them.

Please know that when I'm running, I will only be successful if I am running with you, knowing that you are behind my efforts.