Serendipity

Today I decided to try running in the park right after work. I don't know about you, but for me, inertia starts to develop the moment I walk in the door and soon it becomes a terrible, terrible effort to step away from the computer and put on my running shoes. So today I laced up when I got in my car and drove over to the park already dressed in my running gear.

Lo and behold, I ran into an old running friend from a training program a few years ago. She runs at about my pace, probably a little faster, but we start running together to see how it goes. She didn't want to run too fast in the miserable heat and humidity. It was so nice to run with someone and chat about stuff. Really nice! Even better, she has formed a little informal group of running buddies and is also involved with a small training program that is just now opening up to a few new runners in training. I've been wanting to get some coaching for the tempo/"speed" and core workouts and that's exactly what this little program will be!

Sometimes I feel so lucky. But it's really about being ready to take advantage of the coincidence as it appears to you.

Today's run was a muggy little three-mile jaunt.

Marathon-bound

This weekend I impulsively signed up for a marathon in August 2014, just because the registration fee was discounted. And because I want to have a goal to keep me running consistently for a year. I've started running on a regular basis and have found that my already-slow pace has increased by about a minute per mile. If I run a marathon at this pace, I will be running for a little over five hours. At one point, I had an inner gatekeeper that told me that it would be foolish to run a five-hour marathon, but today, since it seems that five hours is all I will be capable of, the gatekeeper stepped aside and proudly invited me to do my best. And so I shall.