Rock 'n' Roll Seattle Marathon Goals

It's been five years since I've run a full marathon. My last was Minneapolis Team Ortho in 2011. (Be warned: the race report may contain TMI, but runners will talk about such things.) For those who don't want to read the full report, in short, it was hot and hilly and full of cotton wood spores. That race was hard, and I was not really in the zone that day. In the moment, I was satisfied with my decision to stop worrying about the clock, but afterward my ego kicked in. I wanted redemption. Later that summer while training for the Chicago Marathon I got injured, putting my ego in check. Life intervened and it was a while before I was in a place to devote the physical, mental, and emotional energy to marathon training again.

In two weeks I will toe the line at the Rock 'n' Roll Seattle Marathon. I've put in the time and logged most of the miles on my training schedule. I'm excited for race day! I'm running for the joy of running and for the opportunity to run a race in a new state and a new city. But mostly I'm running for reasons that are bigger than running itself. They are bigger than I am; bigger than ego; bigger than the wall. Thank you to Team in Training for giving me so many reasons to run in the dark, on the ice, in the wind, in the rain, under the sunny skies, around the meese for the past few months of training. Thank you, coaches and teammates, for picking me up after I got flattened by dogs on bungees and for sticking with me and convincing me I could finish whenever I thought I could not. Thank you for reminding me of the bigger picture when I lost sight of it.

Some members of Anchorage Summer Team - photo courtesy of one of our intrepid members

With my two Summer Team Coaches - photo courtesy of our Team Captain Ruth

Some of you, dear readers, are part of this bigger picture. I cannot express how appreciative I am to all of you who sponsored me! I will run (and wog, walk, and limp if necessary) 26.2 miles for some amazing people (who gave donations of $50 or more to my fundraising efforts):

Mile 1: Mark, my husband and partner in crime
Mile 2: Wally, my awesome father-in-law
Mile 3: Gitta, my fabulous mother-in-law, who is a cancer survivor
Mile 4: Songho, my kind and generous colleague
Mile 5: Chris, who is witty and edgy even when being vague
Mile 6: Paul, my fearless department chair
Mile 7: Cristina, a brilliant art historian and a newer conference frolleague
Mile 8: Zeynep, a dear friend and pillar of support
Mile 9: Jen, House Ravenclaw and instigator of hair envy
Mile 10: Noam and Jen, cool cousins-in-law
Mile 11: Caroline, whose friendship got me to yoga and through dark times
Mile 12: Nan, my kind and cooky and wonderful mama
Mile 13: Ian and Eliza, kindred spirits and good friends
Mile 14: Dennis, a former student who has asked me to run in memory of his son
Mile 15: Jim, the genius sometimes known as Señor Queso
Mile 16: John B., who believed I could be a historian
Mile 17: Lisa, who will run again, but first has to recover
Mile 18: Geoffrey, my role model in so many things
Mile 19: John H., whose gazelle-like abilities and tirelessness I'll try to channel
Mile 20: Jodi, the best of sisters-in-law
Mile 21: David K., my big-hearted brother-in-law
Mile 22: David, my best friend
Mile 23: Bryan, my first true running partner
Mile 24: Suzie, my running bestie
Mile 25: Heather, my coach and running friend extraordinaire
Mile 26: in memory of Kris, who could make me laugh until my sides hurt
Mile 26.2: in memory of Bryant, who is the reason I'm doing Chicago*

My goals are to A) run a sub-5-hour race. I think that will depend a lot on how I physically feel on race day, the weather, etc. If I feel like it's potentially in my wheelhouse on race day, I will line up with the 4:55 pace group. B) Run a marathon PR, which means I need to finish in under 5:28:30 and C) to finish and to have fun! I want to enjoy the course, chat with other runners, listen to the bands play, and appreciate the day. I want to cherish the experience of running another marathon even when it gets hard and to feel gratitude for the people in my life to whom I've dedicated a whole lot of miles.

*Please consider sponsoring me as I train for and run the Chicago Marathon as part of Team Deere for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.