Hi strangers. Sorry I have been MIA. I am sure both of you have really missed reading my updates.
This past weekend was the Charleston 1/2 Marathon. It was wretched! Bitter cold at the start, and overall very loosely organized. The first 2 miles were through downtown Charleston, which was beautiful and an inspiring setting to run in. Then the last 11 miles were through the absolute worst part of town. In fact, I am pretty sure that North Charleston ranks somewhere in the Top 10 Deadliest Cities in America. It's a wonder no one was murdered during the race. We ran past strip clubs, dilapidated homes, vacant warehouses with bums and their grocery carts lingering on the loading docks. At at least one water station, I had to pour myself a cup of Gatorade because the volunteers weren't doing it (or couldn't keep up, or weren't properly trained). The last 1/2 mile was nice - through N Charleston's brand new (well relatively new) Riverfront Park and I can't wait to find out what kinds of things they do there in the spring/summer months. It's really nice and I had no idea it was there. Anyway, I finished in 2:37:17, which beats 6 weeks ago by only 6 minutes. But this course was significantly, if only mentally and emotionally, harder than Kiawah was. Oh, and I was not feeling to well in the digestive realm, which also slowed me down considerably! EXCUSES!!!
By Sunday afternoon, I had no soreness, no real signs that anything had occured just 1 day prior. Suzanne was my race buddy again, and afterwards we shared a beer, and then went for lunch at Fleet Landing. Good times had by all.
I just want to say, on an unrelated note, how happy I am and how blessed I feel. Every night I tuck my daughter into bed, and she asks me for more.... more water, more stories, more back-scratching, more everything. Sometimes I catch myself, because I just want to get back downstairs to my wine and magazines or whatever other ridiculousness I have planned for the evening. But I do catch myself. The day is going to come when she wants nothing to do with me. She doesn't really even let me carry her up to bed anymore - so it is already starting. So I stay with her, and read one more story, sing one more song, scratch whatever body part she wants me to. It is a painful, heartwrenching love. I know she is only on loan to me, and I savor every second I have with her, because everything can change in an instant. Not to be so morbid, but I think about death and illness and tragic stuff all the time. I don't know if it's something I've taken on since motherhood began, or since Jimmy's father died almost 4 years ago, or if it's just because we are now at the age where everyone's parents are getting sick/old/problems. It seems like it's everywhere! Anyway, my point is really just to keep reminding myself that it is not always going to be this good (even when some things are NOT that good to begin with), it could always be/get worse. And we won't know that until after the fact.
Oh. And as I went through a little bout of road rage last night, I called a driver an asshole. And then my sweet innocent little girl promptly repeated back to me "you're an asshole." OK so note to self, I really have to start watching my mouth!!!
So, next on my race calendar is the Charlie Post Classic which is a 9-miler on Sullivan's Island on January 28th. I am looking forward to that one!
Off to update my history now. Stay tuned. And thanks! :)
No comments:
Post a Comment