Monday, November 23, 2009

I'm no Kenyan....

But I still had a blast running my 2nd full marathon! On October 25th, 2009 I participated in the Marine Corp Marathon, in Washington D.C. where I ran as a member of The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's Team-In-Training.
Due to a heavily over committed fall, I wasn't as well prepared for this race as the last one. I'd like to think that I made up for my lack of training by slowing my pace down and savoring the moments. I might have to do that every time because the event was absolutely fantastic! We had sunny 63 degree weather, a highly scenic course where we ran through all of the major sites, and the crowd support rocked!
Here are a few of my favorite motivational signs from the day:
- Pain is weakness leaving the body
- Release your inner Kenyan
- Never given, always earned
- Pain in temporary, pride is forever
But my favorite one, the one that made me laugh outloud at mile 23 was...
- Your feet hurt because you are kicking so much a**
How awesome is that?
I truly loved every minute and am looking forward to the next race. Speaking of....my brother, CJ and I are running the Thanksgiving Day 1/2 Marathon in 2 days. As long as the weather is good, we should have a fun time. Our goal is to finish it under 2 hours. My PR is 2:02 so I am pretty sure I can reach it. Wish us luck! If things go really well, he may even consider doing a full with me next time. (Now I just have to keep up!)

5 comments:

Kasey said...

That's awesome! I love the last sign. You've been such an inspiration to me in learning to love running. I thought of you several times while I ran my first half marathon 2 days ago (which I LOVED -- so fun)! I remember your commitment to do your 8 mile run while we were in FL last year and that motivated me to do 8 miles while in Paris. Maybe some day I'll work my way up to a full. ;) Thanks for being such an awesome example!

Shauna said...

You are amazing Carolyn! I still would love to come and do that race with you on Thanksgiving Day! I think that would be so much fun! Mom says you might be out here during June, maybe you and Jason can do the Wasatch Back with us. We would have a blast!

Mary said...

Whoa! It's making me tired just thinking about it!!

Suzanne said...

I love those signs! Nothing like some humor to keep a body moving. You are enthusiastic enough to almost convert me to running. Almost. Good job!

The Smiths said...

You are Awesome! I have a hard time running within the first year of having babies, which means I had only gotten started when I got pregnant with Claire. But I am getting geared up for a marathon next fall and I get excited just thinking about it.