Belated Blog Birthday

(I just couldn't resist the alliteration!)

So I completely didn't get around to celebrating my blog's 1 year birthday yesterday because I was too busy celebrating my 25th!

Although the original intent of this blog was to keep me accountable for all 365 days of running (and that has obviously been a FAIL on my part), I have definitely reaped benefits! I have so very much enjoyed discovering all of you lovely people and your blogs. Y'all have definitely kept me accountable for many a run and I've learned so much from you in the fields of running, food, and just life in general!

So thank you for a lovely blog birthday! I'm looking forward to (and will soon let you in on) my goals for this year of my life and blog!

Fear of Forgetting

I have this fear of forgetting things. Forgetting memories and events, more specifically. Almost as if they would not exist anymore if I could not remember them.

This fear has grown lately as I move farther and farther away from childhood. I use to remember EVERYTHING. With ridiculous detail. My sisters and I were so baffled and horrified that our mom couldn't remember what roller skating rink we went to for my 8th birthday or the name of my best friend's sister. She said she had enough information to keep in her head that she just had to let go of those details. I thought that was silly.

Fast forward to now...I can't even remember my workouts from 3 days ago if I don't write them down. All of the sudden, when I became a "real adult" and had 20 little students to worry with and plan for and organize, irrelevant information fell by the wayside. Now, my sisters look to me with horror when I have completely forgotten about a trip we took or a conversation we had months ago.

I don't think it's necessarily that I'm busier or have more going on. (In high school, I kept up with classes, sport practices, lessons, my sisters' schedules, etc. One semester in college, I had to get a form reluctantly signed by the dean of my department allowing me to take 23 hours of class instead of the normal maximum 18.) I think it's either because of the weight of responsibility that comes with a classroom of elementary children that rely on you for their every need for 8 hours each day or something to do with brain science and the difference between a child's and adult's memory.

Anyway, all of this is to explain why I'm so driven to put things on paper. I kept a diary all throughout my childhood, but my writing was not very consistent. Sometimes there were would be weeks or months between entries and during middle school I had almost daily detailed reports on the vastly interesting (okay, in retrospect, not quite so much) aspects of life as a pre-teen.

I greatly regret I did not keep a diary during my first year of teaching (or any of the past few years, for that matter.) I had a roller coaster of an experience and it's too easy to just brush that off as the past and forget what it was really like. (I had so many funny teacher stories from that year, too! Sometimes, one of my sisters or friends will ask me about a story about one of those students and I will have completely forgotten until they remind me what happened.)

Obviously, this blog, in a way, is a diary, at least of my running life. So I'm trying to keep things organized so I can look back on my fails and triumphs (and sometimes read between the lines to my life outside of running, too.) I put all my results I could dig up into one post that I can link one the side and add to as needed, and I'm going back through and properly labeling my posts. At least as properly as I can with labels such as "patheticness," "lame excuses" and "interesting runs." Anyway, I'll try not to make things too complicated!

I hope y'all are enjoying this lovely weather. I'm out the door for a quick run before our tax appointment!

What's in a name?

I only have a moment before I run off to complete Day 2 of Making the Cut (aren't you proud I've almost stayed on track for two days? That's pretty monumental, right?) but I've been thinking...

I guess I should change the name of my blog...since I'm not really doing the 365 thing right now. (I still kind of have my eye on January 1, 2010, but don't tell my husband.)

Maybe "365 Runs...Someday"?

Is that too pathetic?

Or maybe something else running related? Or maybe something completely unrelated because I'm feel more non-running random thoughts pushing to the surface lately?

I dunno...let me know if you have any strokes of genius.

Thanks for the push!

I got in my 12! After slacking off for 2 weeks, I was a little worried about it. I made my Run vs. Reese's Puffs (which I ironically had a huge bowl of right after I got in from my run) earlier and then spent the rest of the afternoon otherwise occupied and waiting for the weather to cool down.

When the time tolled, I checked my email right quick before heading out. I was so surpised and happy to see I had multiple comments: encouraging me, slightly scolding me for slacking off, wanting to hear about my long run. Suddenly, I went from worried to inspired!

I bounced out onto the porch and announced to my husband, "My blogger friends are cheering me on! I can do this long run after all! See, I need them. Besides my mom, I don't have anybody in real life to get excited about me running 12 miles."

So, thank you, for holding me accountable and keeping me motivated.

It was actually a pretty good run. It's been raining all weekend so it wasn't 2 miles before I accidentally trampled through a puddle, but the wet shoes didn't bother me too much. (I did end up darting in the house real quick when I was passing it at mile 10 to change into some dry socks...by that time, it was pretty necessary.) I ended up walking a little here and there, but I feel no shame in that. I had some faster spurts too, so it kind of evened out. Overall, it was about 11 minute miles, which is about what I'm aiming for in the marathon.

After not running for 5 days, it just felt so good to be out there. I'm still contemplating the next step in my running plan and I appreciate all the suggestions and advice y'all been giving. Keep 'em coming!

This is why I love blogging.

Something happened today that makes me smile. One of my friends from college, who I haven't seen since graduation, facebooked to tell me she was starting her own running blog after seeing mine! In the blogosphere, this feels like the ultimate compliment. : )

I've been running and blogging together now for about 3 months and it has been such a blessing to me. This little blog (well, really, you lovely people who stop by to read) motivates me daily. I'm planning and running more thoughtfully and staying (mostly) on track with my training goals.

Most of all, I love the interaction I've had with other bloggers. I feel like we're all neighbors out here in this virtual world; I enjoy dropping by to see what y'all are up to and sharing a little bit of my life, too. I'm so glad that I could invite Chelsea to our neighborhood, too!

P.S. I appreciate the advice about my knee very much! I took it easy one more day and I *think* it's going to be okay. I definitely need to work more on injury prevention and I'm doing more research and incorporating your suggestions.