inspiration

Last week, when I was really down about running, I had a spark of inspiration. I was running the Pi Mile at GT, and out of nowhere, I saw someone who has inspired me since my 2nd year of college. Walt Smith was there at the corner of Brittain and 4th! I had to stop and talk =) And after our talk, I definitely had an extra spring in my step and smile on my face.

Walt is the trainer for the GT baseball team, and he's worked with them for a verrrry long time. I would always stand next to him in the dugout when I was a bat/ball girl, and we'd talk about the game, etc. My favorite story is my very last game I was working, I bought Walt a big bag of M&Ms, his favorite. He eats them every game. Just as he started to open them, 2 players ran into each other in the outfield. The M&Ms exploded everywhere into the dugout. I was so bummed, my parting gift to him and it went on the ground. But he had a job to do, and his instinct and speedy getting out on the field was crazy!

We had a good talk, about what I was up to these days, about how maybe next year will be they year for Tech baseball, and how he saw me at the one GT game I went to this yr at Russ Chandler. Good talk...miss those college days.

Dean Griffin Pi Mile Race

I ran the Pi Mile last weekend...and guess what? It rained! Again...3rd race in a row where it has either rained or been gloomy from rain.

I ran it in 30 min, which is pretty good considering I ran pretty slow for almost 2 of the 3.1 miles. Wanted to stay behind with my old roomie & friend Lindsay. It's not often that I get to run with people, so I really enjoy being social if I know someone at a race! I'm pretty sure I would have had a sub 30 time if I had been running alone. Lindsay finally convinced me to leave her around mile 2. Then it was pretty cool passing so many people, since I had held out for so long. I even passed someone I knew, who called out my name as I was passing him. I was like, I guess I can hang out with you for a bit :) Then picked up the speed again and moved on! I am really starting to love racing!

Lindsay & I before the race

There I am chugging up North Ave, a fun long hill

Just a few strides away from the finish line

lunchtime run

I kind of got out of the funk. Went for a run during lunch yesterday when the sun made an appearance. It was nice, ran the pi mile around Tech. Good break up to the day, made work go much faster! Can't believe I have a race on Sat...don't envision myself doing that great since I'm going to the Braves-Mets game the night before!

downtown dash rescheduled!

The Downtown Dash for Diabetes has been rescheduled for April 5. Which means I'm running back to back 5Ks (the Pi Mile 5K is the next weekend). Whew! This is gonna be fuuuuuuuuun.

so tired

I am so tired this week!

I ran 6 miles Mon, 5 miles Tues, 6.3 miles yesterday. After I ran yesterday, my legs hurt so bad. It was hard to walk! I ran 2 Pi Miles, which was considerably harder than running the flat Comet trail. oh well. This is only making me stronger, right??

So today I am taking a day off. Then tomorrow I will run a mile, stretch a lot, and eat some spaghetti. Then Saturday is my first race!

fears

Today I ran farther than the Pi Mile. It's about time I add some distance on to my runs...this is how it went:

Started off at Turner, walking towards campus. There's a guy walking a couple paces ahead of me.

Security guard: Where are you sleeves?!

Me: Huh? Oh! I'm going for a run, I won't be cold.

Security guard: Oh no! You need sleeves!

A couple more paces and I catch up to the guy, who turns around and looks at me.

Guy: Aren't you cold?

Me: Yeah, but I'll be running soon, and then I won't be cold.

Guy: Ah...I guess when I go hiking I don't wear sleeves even when it's cold or then I'll just be wet and cold.

Me: Yeah, see you get it!

Guy: Are you an intern?

Me: No! I work here (notice that he's looking at my GT shirt). I graduated from Tech so I like to run here after work.

Guy: Ah, so you must have gotten that shirt a long time ago.

Then he asks me what sorority I'm in, I find out what fraternity he's in. We figure out what networks we work for. We part ways at 10th and Fowler and the Pi Mile begins. It is so painful. My legs feel like bricks! But I can do this!

It's pretty slow going til I get to the CRC and a nice long downhill. Then I discover I have a big pet peeve while running. People asking directions! This car pulls over, and some girl beckons to me. I'm like....hello!!! I'm running away from you, I'm breathing heavily, I'm trying to focus on running. Ask someone else!!! She's like, where's the library? You really think I can give you detailed directions to the library while I'm running past you and breathing hard. All I can muster is a point to the left and "the other way." I hope she found it. But I hope no one ever asks me for directions again while I'm running!

After this, I feel pretty good, guess my legs finally warmed up! I make it back to 10th Street and decide, today is the day I am going to go past the Pi Mile. 10th & Fowler is approaching...I turn the corner to keep going!

Then, I immediately hit a wall. Mentally mostly. I guess I just got too used to 10th & Fowler being the end. First, my brain said, no way. Then my legs said, do we really have to? My hands said, we are so numb we're going to fall off. Yeah, my hands were frozen. I don't need sleeves but next time I definitely need gloves!

So I ran another mile or so and approached 10th & Fowler again to finish. Phew! My legs were hurting so bad! I don't know why...it was just an extra mile but it was a doozie. A pretty big hill & getting colder by the minute. But I made it! But...can I do it again tomorrow?

Which brings me to my fears...my first race is just a few weeks away. I'm only up to 4 miles - can I really do 6.2? Should I push myself harder? It's for a good cause, so I know it doesn't matter if I I run the whole thing or not, but if you know me, you know I hate to do anything without putting in 100%. I want to run the whole thing, I want to complete it. I hope that I can!

Then I have this other irrational fear. Can I run a race without music? I hate hearing the sound of my feet pounding the pavement and my breath all heavy...I love to hear music and drown out the fact that I'm working so hard.

These fears...so silly. But so real! Do you ever feel like the little fears are more real than the big fears we have some times? Or the little fears are just indicative of our secret big fears. Because I think about these silly fears - I'm really just scared of failure! Scared of not completing things. I like closure, I like feeling like I finished & accomplished something.