JENNIFER SCROGGINS
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Cuz you can't, you won't, and you don't stop

3/29/2010

1 Comment

 
This blogging thing takes time, and time is hard to come by when you're training for a half-marathon -- and then a full.


But it's all worth it, and that was validated for me Sunday at the Heart Mini-Marathon. It was one hour, 19 minutes and 45 seconds of pain. But it took only 15 seconds to make my entire day.


I had never done this event before, and I always struggle mentally when I run a course for the first time. I'm a planner. I like to know what's coming and when, and how best to approach it. And Sunday morning, all I knew was it was cool, kind of drizzly, and I had a series of hills to deal with as best I could.


Based on my Key West half-marathon in January and my recent training runs, I set a goal of finishing in 1:20 or better. I didn't really know if I could do it, so I didn't tell anyone, and I tried not to look at my GPS too often. I just did what I'm good at doing -- I kept going.


At the 9-mile flag, I saw the time board and I knew I was close to making -- or missing -- my goal. So I ran, by God. Ran HARD. Ran like my life depended on it.


That worked for about .15 miles. Which meant I spent the final .15 miles blathering, quite audibly, that I could not possibly finish. Inspired by the woman nearby who told me I indeed could do it, and by my own stubbornness, again I just did what I do, and I kept going. It was ugly; it was excruciating; it had to have been comical to see.


But when I learned that I made my goal by 15 seconds, it was the Best Thing Ever. I don't especially like to run, but I like how I feel when I'm done. And I like that I can set goals and actually achieve them more often than not. I've spent the past 18 months really struggling with some internal battles -- Me vs. Me is a fight I can't seem to win -- and running provides me a rare to chance to feel successful. 


Today, with hamstrings griping, I completed a 12.3-mile training run. No land-speed records were broken, but the goal was to do the mileage, and I surely did.
Again, parts were ugly, parts were excruciating, and I'm sure parts were comical to see.


But that's just me out there, doing what I do -- keeping on going. 



1 Comment
Brian Calkins link
3/29/2010 11:53:52 pm

Wow, great post Jennifer. You captured the experience of race day, and the internal battle quite well!!

It really is a lot of fun to set those next goals ... and go after them. Nothing like that nervous feeling before hand, and then the feeling of accomplishment afterward!

Congrats on your hard work!

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