What Running is Teaching Me

We just got back from the pasta feed/inspiration dinner before the half marathon tomorrow. Matt spoke at it and needless to say, now I'm all fired up! The clothes are all laid out, the weather forecast has been checked (50 and raining), and jitters are setting in...

So here's what running has taught me:


-I am strong

-I am also weak, but I can keep going

-Nathan likes to talk while we run…me? Not so much.

-We always start and end in the same place, what that means is a net zero elevation gain. I try to tell myself that when we’re running uphill that means that later we get to run downhill but it sure doesn’t feel like it evens out.

-I also tried to tell myself that the uphills are a gift because they make me stronger and the downhills are a gift because, well, they’re downhill. The problem with that is my bad knees make the downhills pretty painful. And who am I fooling? The uphills are NOT a gift. The Hills of Seattle and I are not friends right now.

-Cute running clothes are sometimes the only thing that gets me out the door on those cold, rainy days.

-Nathan is an excellent running buddy/coach. He could easily run faster than me (those long legs just aren’t fair) but he doesn’t. He runs with me. We were on an 8 mi. out and back and unfortunately the out was mostly downhill so the back was, yup…. We were on our way back I was staring up at the hill and it was the first time so far that I’ve said “I don’t think I can do this” (aloud, I’ve thought it plenty). Nathan was right at my elbow telling me, “head down, dig in, almost to the top, power through, use that mutant lung capacity” (it’s true, I have a measured outrageously large lung capacity)

-It’s been really awesome to have something that Nathan and I are pursuing together. Yeah, we have the Sounders and leading youth group and many other shared passions. But it’s fun to mix it up sometimes. Try something that we’re maybe not great at and encourage each other as we get better.