road to CIM

Most often the fodder for the blog is the Chunglund children. But this time, it's all about ME!

Last year, Heidi whipped up some good Kool-Aid. It took a little bit, but I drank that sh*t right up somehow managing by April 2017 to find myself signed up for my first marathon. It has been quite the journey.

I got my first taste of running dirty. Because everyone runs 16 miles on the trail after making 30 fondant unicorn horns and frosting cupcakes for their offspring's 7th birthday, right?

I saw many many sunrises, did more fartleks, and ran more hills than I care to remember.

There were post-long run mimosas.

I got to witness my first ultra marathon up close and personal, while crewing for my dear childhood badass mother runner friend.

I got in a training run with a friend, who prior to this I had only had training swims with.

And we both finished! And she got her BQT! Bostom 2019!

I met a new friend, who happens to be the sister of the neighbor of another childhood friend living in Minneapolis. Small, small world.

I ate gallons of Gu and logged hundreds of miles. It has been quite the trip. Oh yeah, I tripped and fell a lot too.

But I always got back up.

I felt pretty emotional picking up my packet and realizing that this is where the rubber hits the road. We were about to see how well I had actually trained.

It all came down to this ...

I had the best cheering section.

I got emotional at mile 13 when I realized that I was going to be able to finish this and not hate it.

I finished marathon. I did it a couple minutes (give or take) under my time goal. But even better than that? I met many new friends, reconnected with old friends, and got to know existing friends waaayyy better.

And that's a wrap. I ran a pretty conservative, evenly paced race, and felt pretty good all the way through ... which begs the question of what my limits truly are. For now, I'm hoping to finish out the year with 1,000 cumulative miles. I'm not signed up for CIM 2018 ... yet.