Have you ever woken up in the morning with this completely certain feeling that you absolutely CANNOT do something that on any given day you are perfectly capable of doing? I realize this might seem laughable for any number of reasons… of course we all have self-doubt and it’s not entirely average to say to yourself: but, of course I can run 16 miles this morning! but you catch my drift. Some days you just feel less capable than others.
16 miles on Saturday morning was just one of those things. It was dark and rainy outside. Staying in bed was a much warmer, more welcoming option. This is part of the reason I’m mentoring Team in Training in the first place. As I’ve said before, I run because I can and I run because I know there are others who cannot. And others who will, regardless of if I get out of bed or not. I went to practice and I pounded out 16 miles and I lived to tell the tale.
I ran with my “mentee” Su on Saturday, which was great. We both got each other through the run, I think. She said how grumpy she gets running in the cold and in the rain and her determination and comfortable pace got me through miles that felt insurmountable. Since our running route was backwards this week, we didn’t have much feel for where we were, mile-wise, as we jogged along. We reached the Common and asked our coach how much we had completed and were pleasantly surprised to have reached 8.6 without really thinking about it. Good company goes a long way! We put our heads down and powered (“powered”) through five sets of hills and headed for home. It’s funny writing about it, imagining in my head how terrible and difficult it all was and then putting down words and thinking that wasn’t so bad. I even watched part of the Boston Marathon during lunch break yesterday and realized I am REALLY excited for the race coming up. I’ve come a long way in three days!
As usual, a short thought. I’ve written before about what Su’s family is going through — her sister in cancer treatment right now for this stubborn and selfish disease. Su’s sister, brother-in-law, and niece have all moved to Maryland for a series of treatments to take place over the next three months, a family already robbed of their “normal” now transplanted on top of it all. A family friend, Su told me, had sent an e-mail to an entire listserv of acquaintances, colleagues, family and friends to see if they knew of a furnished house or apartment where Su’s sister could stay. She received a response from a woman saying: I can do that! The woman moved out of her own house, into the guest room of a friend, and GAVE her house to Su’s sister for the duration of her treatment. There are truly good people in the world. It makes me think about mornings when I wake up and think “I can’t,” that there are people out there waking up and saying “I can,” for such larger, more important things.