I am listening to a very interesting book now, "90 minutes in Heaven" by Don Piper. He was in a horrific car accident and and his story is relevant to mine in quite a few ways such as he didn't ask or sign up for this it was thrust up him. Piper went on front of his church and received a huge ovation for which he was quite embarrassed during the ovation he heard a little voice say, "They're not applauding you" and that relaxed him and he said only 4 words, "you prayed, I'm here."
Like almost everybody with dystonia, I feel very uncomfortable in the spotlight. I never quite no what to say when people say the I inspire them. I get that quite a bit and never fully understand it. I try to be kind and gracious, I usually say a simple "Thank you" but to me that sounds odd or not quite right. Maybe that's why the line "They're not applauding you" struck such a chord. When people say I inspire them, it is more what that person is seeing than anything that I am doing intentionally.
On the training front: had 2 great workouts this week. On Tuesday we did a 5K time trial, this is a little odd but I didn't know what I could run a 5K in. I have done only 4 5K's in my life:2 were unofficial time with only a clock at the finish and I have long forgot those times, 1 was 15 minutes after I finished a 10K where I was focused on my 10K time, and the last was this past spring I ran the Irish Jig in East Grand Rapids where I got stuck near the back of the pack. So I had no idea what I could if given a fair shake. Well , it turns out I did a very respectable (at least in my mind) 19:36. I was the first to finish which meant I for the last mile I kept looking and wondering if I was going the right direction and where is the finish line, so that may have added a few seconds. With my sense of direction I could never win any race, if I wasn't following people I would surely get lost. I could see me losing the Boston Marathon because I took a wrong turn!
And then to finish up some of us ran back the way we came instead of going the mile or so to complete the lake loop. I got into a nice rhythm and was feeling good, my return time couldn't have been far off my 5K time except we had to go another quarter mile past where we started. I know I ran hard beauce not only was I a little sick to my stomach, my butt even hurt! After a hard run I get "runner's tummy," where I don't feel like eating anything. The harder and longer the run the longer the feeling lasts, up to 5 or 6 hours. Which is why the food after a marathon is such a joke. The one thing I did find very hellpful after a race is ice cream. They had an ice cream tent set up at the Bayshore Marathon this spring and I had 3 bowls.
Thursdays workouts were 8 - 800's (half mile). After nailing these I am much more confident I can finish the marathon in under 3:15. My goal at the start was 3:00 to 3:05, but I wanted to keep them steady and not have 1 or 2 at 3:12. I ran the first one in 2:56 and the next in 2:53. he second was way too fast for me but 2:56 was reasonable but the question was could I keep it up? 4 more and I was still hitting 2:56 but now I was pretty much running alone. I was running with 4 guys at the start but 1 fell off after 2 sets and another stopped after 6 and the other ran the 800 in college, he was only a few seconds faster but took off like a jack-rabbit. The last 2 were tough but was amazed to see the time when Icompleted each was 2:56. I had to keep sayig to myself long, smooth strides. When you get tired stride length is the first thing to go then your form soon follows, so the last 2 I found myself saying it more and more.
Quote of the day: "They may forget what you said, but they will never gorget the way you make them feel." - Carl Buechner
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