So it begins...

Well hi. Last time I wrote on this blog was the night before the marathon, and I was just about ready to eat myself into a Ben & Jerry's stupor and watch high school movies from the late '90s like I'd just been dumped by some highly attractive but clearly confused hypothetical boyfriend. I did watch the race from Heartbreak Hill, which was its own sort of special experience. For one, I got to watch the world's most sinewy women come blasting up the hill. For two, I did jump into the race for about a quarter mile to help encourage my training partner, Katy, but other than that, it was all spectator business for me.

But that is all months ago now, and fast forward through a brief but restful summer, a move to my new home near Davis Square during a blazing hot Labor Day Weekend, the start of my new job, a gorgeous and colorful fall, and I am now finding myself once again at the precipice of the same daunting challenge that I nearly completed last year. I debated back and forth in my head for a while about whether or not to apply to run again, mostly avoiding the thought, especially while I was still confined to a boot cast. I couldn't even run comfortably until mid-summer, as the toe took longer than anticipated to heal (it's still a bit wonky, and can't fully curl down, but it does the job well enough). Easing back into running come late summer was not very graceful, and the uncomfortable fact that running 3 miles in some 80 degree summer heat felt akin to a marathon through Death Valley wasn't exactly encouraging. Yes, I fell out of shape. I fell pretty heavy into the brunch side of things for a couple months there, and it's almost like that didn't help. I guess high intensity pancake carbo-loading can have a variety of effects. Who knew?

Regardless, come September I found myself thinking about the marathon quite a bit, although I did not feel the same energy and nervous excitement that I felt as I applied last year. This time I just felt scared. I invested so much last year, physically and emotionally. The let down was incredibly hard, and the possibility of facing that again seemed just too frightening--because the reality is, training for 5 months for a one-time event that falls within a small, half-day window...there are just so many things that can go wrong! Stomach bug, flu, heat wave, running injury, freak staircase injury, bombs (apparently)...I mean, the fates can play a serious hand in this. But when I received Eve's email with the application attached, I knew I wasn't kidding anyone. Of course I was going to try again.

And thus, here I am, several weeks into running regularly once more. The training is definitely daunting when a 5 mile run (which used to be my daily staple) still feels pretty rough, and I know that my fitness is not at the same level as when I applied last year. But I am still ready to give it my all, come what may.

I have new cards to sell this year, too. I am in the process of getting them scanned somewhere other than Staples, since they did a terrible job. Stay tuned for more info on how to order sets, because the other half of all this is that, oh yeah, I have to raise over $13,400. Again. But hey, it's for a fantastic cause, and I couldn't be more proud to represent Samaritans once more. As I stand on the brink of many challenges to come, I sort of feel vaguely like King Theoden of Rohan as he looks down at all the 10,000 Uruk-hai charging the walls of Helm's Deep and steadfastly declares, "So it begins..."