I’m a nervous wreck. I just signed up for the Hampton’s Half Marathon, and I can barely run four miles!
If you’ve been following my "A Runner's Diary" on Blogcritics, you know that I never made it to the Disney Half Marathons that I signed up for because I got injured both times. I did run the NYC Half Marathon with my husband. After that, I developed shin splints, Achilles pain, and a knee injury. It took a long time to recover and now, at age 50, I’m going to go for it again.
Marti DiPaola, my running partner, and I ran a race two weeks ago on the boardwalk in Long Beach, NY. It was a four-mile run. We both did it without stopping. That was the first time in almost a year that we ran.
Believe it or not, it actually felt great. We didn’t talk much but we didn’t take any breaks either. We just ran and ran and ran. As we got to the second mile, it felt as if I were flying. I just saw people passing me by and I watched the waves. I didn’t even feel like I was running. I just was…
When we crossed the finish line, we were both really excited that we were able to do it. It felt so good!
The other day, my friend Constance Korol, asked me during spin class at the Equinox in Woodbury, if I would consider running in the Hampton’s Marathon.
“I don’t know,” I said.
“Come on,” she said, “you did it once; you can do it again.”
Then Tripp Doherty, the spin instructor came up to me and asked if I was in. I said I was but I really didn’t mean it. He was so excited. “I got six people from this class to sign up,” he shouted. I just smiled. I walked out of the gym and wondered if I could do this again without getting injured.
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