Love Running. Love Life.

Sooo, I keep putting off doing a "Boston Recap" because I anticipate it being lengthy and so forth, so the though of putting my thoughts on paper keeps me from starting in the first place!  Perhaps I will get there eventually.  For now, the bottom line is this:  it was as expected.  Requalification for Boston, without too much effort.  2 days off from running (just swimming) and I was back at it.  I also realized that I have 5 weeks rather than 4 before my "key" marathon, which is amazing (Memorial Day is later this year.)  Somehow, this seems so much more managable in my head training-wise.  Soooo we are really at T-36 days.

Buttt, what I really wanted to mention was what I have been thinking about lately.  I really hope this doesn't come out sounding corny or lame because honestly it is the truth.  So here goes:  I. Love. Running.  Plain and simple.  Contrary to what it might seem after training and running Boston, I am anything BUT sick of training.  I felt like this training cycle I just fell more and more deeply in love with running.  I hated the two days before Boston and the two days after Boston, because I was running little or not at all.  The only reason why racing bugs me is the fact that it interferes with me training as much as possible.  I know me saying this makes me sound obsessive, but honestly, running doesn't feel obsessive to me.  Because obsessive to me means doing something that you don't want to do because you feel like you HAVE to. It doesn't feel like an obligation 90% of the time, but instead like a craving.  Like something my body just wants to do so bad.  All.  The.  Time.  I feel like I'm always thinking about running, or training plans, or reading running books (currently in the middle of "Again to Carthage.")  Whenever I drive anywhere, I always think "I wonder what it would be like to run along this road," hense why I tend to pull over randomly and go running when I can!  Running just feels so right to me.  And I realize that I commit alot of time to it, but I have no regrets about that.  I love the life-stage that I am in right now: young but done with college, and responsible for no one but myself.  I feel like I work hard to keep myself financially afloat the best I can with my 2 jobs, but beyond that I just want to train.  I don't care that I don't have a crazy social life, or that I'm rarely awake past 10pm, or that I'd rather look up marathons to run online than go on Facebook.  All my decisions are based on making me a better runner, which makes me happy as a person.  I'll run with anyone or alone, anytime, at any pace.  I like being committed to something so deeply.  And I love that lately it just feels so NATURAL.  I only wish there were more hours in the day (or that I had to work less hours in the day!) so that I could spend more time as a runner.  I've been running my whole life, but now more than ever I appreciate and love it.  1 ultramarathon, 7 marathons, 7 1/2 marathons, hundreds of shorter races, and the thought of training truely still makes me giddy.  Running = happiness.

I don't really know why I cared to share all of that, but I've been formulating those thoughts in the last couple of days.  It is probably because I've been wanting to run so much, but have kept it to 7 milers the last couple days, as I can tell some fatigue from monday is still present.  I have lots to talk about and changes to make the next 5 weeks of training.  I will have to reveal them another day, as this post is getting way to long.  Suffice to say, the next 3 weeks will be intense.  No holds barred.  I'm in this for one reason.  Bayshore here I come!

Hope running loved you and you loved running today! :)

Running = :)
Bakery 6am-2pm Saturday = :(