banana slug

"My friend asked me if I wanted a frozen banana. I said `No, but I want a regular banana later, so... yeah.`'

"It's not about how fast you go. It's not about how far you go. It's a process."

Amby Burfoot, The Runner's Guide to the Meaning of Life

A process indeed. I am currently in my first full week of actual Marathon training. I am no longer in my base training phase...which scares the crap out of me.

For one thing, with Ali and Jen, I visited our dear friend Beth in Seattle last weekend (Memorial weekend). I promised myself I would run my scheduled 7 miles on Sunday 'no matter what'. Apparently, there were loopholes in that statement...

'no matter what unless...'

unless there are huge hills in Seattle (check),

unless we walk 500 miles all over downtown (check),

unless we stay out until 3am dancing and grubbin' out at IHOP (check and check).

I wouldn't normally beat myself up for missing this run since I really did a lot of activity while we were in town. But this day set the pace for the rest of the week. Somehow I became too busy and too darned tired to run at all for the rest of the week! My only legit excuse fell on Thursday when I had to work extra early AND late then rushing out to grab yummy Veraci pizza for our small group that we host. Otherwise, I was just too darned lazy. Not the way I wanted to spend my last week of base training.

I wrestled with thoughts like, "is this it? Did I just ruin my chances by being lazy?" and "will I be ok after this entire week off?" The answer? YES, silly girl. In fact, I was soooo ok that when Bobby accidentally dropped me off 1 mile too far for my long run on Sunday, resulting in a surprisingly fast 8 mile run, I didn't even feel as though I'd been MIA. (it should be noted that this 'accidental' 8 miler was a lack of communication on both parts and failure to pay attention on my part...but it's a funny story now so who cares?)

I'm supposed to be swimming on Mondays but I just haven't gotten my act together the last 3 weeks...the longer I'm there by myself, the more I feel like the solitary beta fish I used to keep as a pet...back and forth, back and forth, round and round...I've got nothing to look at but the bottom of the pool and the occational unenthusiastic lifeguard when I come up to breathe. But I know it's good for me, this going round and round, so pick it back up I must!

Tuesday's run had the typical 'bag of rocks' feel to it...I think my body just hates waking up at 5:30am and this is the way it retaliates. But I encountered an obstacle course that looked like strikingly similar to Canadian geese and a slimy slug upon my return home that prompted the kid in me to poke it with a stick.

Apparently, they have 4 noses.