O.K., I know you are sick to death of hearing me talk about "Marathon this" and "Marathon that", but I have just one more thing to share, and then I promise I will stop (unless you are also a runner who likes to blab about running). So, while I have trained long and hard for this past Marathon I have also done a lot of soul searching and pondering. I first thought about what I have lost training for and running the marathon the list includes: 1. Two perfectly good toe nails, 2. About 25 pds. (no complaints there), 3. Feelings of Self-Consciousness (people seeing me in spandex biker shorts and a jiggly buttocks), 4. Hours of my time on Saturday's, 5. Minutes of my time during the week, 6. Skin off my feet, under my boobs, and around my belly button (sorry TMI). I then thought about what I have gained from training for and running the Marathon: 1. Confidence (I can I will), 2. Determination (a desire to succeed
), 3. Dedication (I did not miss 1 single training or cross training day for the entire 18 weeks), 4. Perseverence (when the going gets tough, the tough get going), 5. A stronger healthier body, 6. A closer relationship with my family (it involved John and Adessa on Saturday's bringing Gatorade and cheering me through the long runs), 7. A greater dependance on my Heavenly Father, 8. A clearer mind, 9. A sense of accomplishment, 10. A greater knowledge of who I am. As you can see, I gained far more than I lost, but what did I learn? I learned that slow and steady wins the race, not just running, but in life in general. If you are constant and steady than you will benefit more than those who have moments of being zealous and then losing their zeal. I learned that it pays to train and prepare yourself. If we prepare ourselves for the things we want be it gospel, education, athletics, family, whatever, but if we prepare oursel
ves properly we will be successful. While I was running I passed at least 200 people, but it wasn't until around mile 13-14. Why? Because they started too fast, they didn't pace themselves, they hadn't trained and prepared, they became too competetive, they didn't have the right clothing, they hadn't eaten or drank enough. There were a whole myriad of reasons I passed them, but they all came back to being prepared. I kept saying to myself each time I passed someone "slow and steady Ash." Some of the people I passed looked like they were going to die and others looked like they didn't really care so much about finishing and feeling good. When I finished I felt great. The pictures I have posted are all from mile 22 on, and I don't look like I am going to die. I have taken this experience and applied it to my life. Let's pace ourselves, we don't have to have everything right now, slow and steady. We don't have to have booming
careers, big fancy houses, perfect families and bodies and church callings, slow and steady. If we apply this principle of slow and steady in our lives we will be preparing ourselves with the proper equipment to make it to the end of this race of life and when we finish we'll feel good, because we have trained ourselves properly. This I firmly believe and have witnessed with my own two eyes while running the Marathon. If you have any desire to run a Marathon I strongly suggest it. I used Hal Higdons novice 1 training guide. You can find it at
www.halhigdon.com O.K., now I will stop blabbing until my next Marathon, which John says I am first going to bear him another child. We all know this isn't so easy for me to do, but hey, slow and steady right! Happy running to all.
O.K., I know you are sick to death of hearing me talk about "Marathon this" and "Marathon that", but I have just one more thing to share, and then I promise I will stop (unless you are also a runner who likes to blab about running). So, while I have trained long and hard for this past Marathon I have also done a lot of soul searching and pondering. I first thought about what I have lost training for and running the marathon the list includes: 1. Two perfectly good toe nails, 2. About 25 pds. (no complaints there), 3. Feelings of Self-Consciousness (people seeing me in spandex biker shorts and a jiggly buttocks), 4. Hours of my time on Saturday's, 5. Minutes of my time during the week, 6. Skin off my feet, under my boobs, and around my belly button (sorry TMI). I then thought about what I have gained from training for and running the Marathon: 1. Confidence (I can I will), 2. Determination (a desire to succeed
), 3. Dedication (I did not miss 1 single training or cross training day for the entire 18 weeks), 4. Perseverence (when the going gets tough, the tough get going), 5. A stronger healthier body, 6. A closer relationship with my family (it involved John and Adessa on Saturday's bringing Gatorade and cheering me through the long runs), 7. A greater dependance on my Heavenly Father, 8. A clearer mind, 9. A sense of accomplishment, 10. A greater knowledge of who I am. As you can see, I gained far more than I lost, but what did I learn? I learned that slow and steady wins the race, not just running, but in life in general. If you are constant and steady than you will benefit more than those who have moments of being zealous and then losing their zeal. I learned that it pays to train and prepare yourself. If we prepare ourselves for the things we want be it gospel, education, athletics, family, whatever, but if we prepare oursel
ves properly we will be successful. While I was running I passed at least 200 people, but it wasn't until around mile 13-14. Why? Because they started too fast, they didn't pace themselves, they hadn't trained and prepared, they became too competetive, they didn't have the right clothing, they hadn't eaten or drank enough. There were a whole myriad of reasons I passed them, but they all came back to being prepared. I kept saying to myself each time I passed someone "slow and steady Ash." Some of the people I passed looked like they were going to die and others looked like they didn't really care so much about finishing and feeling good. When I finished I felt great. The pictures I have posted are all from mile 22 on, and I don't look like I am going to die. I have taken this experience and applied it to my life. Let's pace ourselves, we don't have to have everything right now, slow and steady. We don't have to have booming
careers, big fancy houses, perfect families and bodies and church callings, slow and steady. If we apply this principle of slow and steady in our lives we will be preparing ourselves with the proper equipment to make it to the end of this race of life and when we finish we'll feel good, because we have trained ourselves properly. This I firmly believe and have witnessed with my own two eyes while running the Marathon. If you have any desire to run a Marathon I strongly suggest it. I used Hal Higdons novice 1 training guide. You can find it at www.halhigdon.com O.K., now I will stop blabbing until my next Marathon, which John says I am first going to bear him another child. We all know this isn't so easy for me to do, but hey, slow and steady right! Happy running to all.
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