Magic

Today has been the first day that I've felt sore since my half marathon.  I'm excited.  A while back, when my legs were sore, I would be concerned.  Now, I feel awesome that I've created the soreness in some fabulous way, which usually entails some hardcore miles.  Yesterday at practice, the team ran mile repeats: two...fast.  I did one with the gals, one on my own, and I'm ecstatic to report that I cruised my first one, and even had enough breath to cheer on the girls, in a 5:16, which is definitely faster than I ran in my college days. My second (solo) mile after a five-minute recovery was 5:23.  Although it felt a little harder, as expected, I know if I had someone to run with, it probably would have been faster.

Speaking of having someone to run with, I'm disappointed that both of my Citius girls bailed on me today, for valid reasons, of course.  I ran my eight miles today solo, which I have been doing mostly all fall, but I was hoping for a buddy to pull my tired hamstrings along a little quicker.  I'm also happy to report that I ran my 8 miles in 61 minutes and was sad that it was so slow. I picked a lot of hills, so I suppose I should be okay with the slower pace, but again, I know if I had someone there, I'd probably had cruised a 57-minute run, chatting about boyfriends, husbands, work, and weekend plans, oh yes, and races. 

I'm happy to see a change in my mentality when it comes to running in general.  I've fully embraced getting better than I have ever been, which includes eating better, sleeping more, adding extra exercises, embracing teammates, finding faster races, setting goals that seem a bit too far away (my castles in the clouds), and expecting fast times.

In fact, this weekend, I've signed up for a pretty competitive race in Boston where the college team will be running their regional race.  Jenn Donnovan, the famous Suffolk distance runner during my time and one of Rob's old running crushes, will be racing.  Sure, she runs 16 minutes now, but at least I know she will drag the race along fast, so I can come home with a happy PR.  Boston has a lot of demons for me.  I've never run well there.  In fact, even when I warm up or do a practice run with the team before the regional race each year, I still have such bad memories and, yes, regrets. 

This weekend, I will be able to battle those demons.  Actually, I know I won't even feel those demons as I blaze through the course.  Realistically, can I win? Probably not, but I am going to fly on through faster than ever.  I hope that my splits are off; I will know that I am running faster than I had even hoped.

I actually texted one of my athletes, a Harry Potter fan, today.  I told her that her inspirational word should be "patronous," which she corrected, as the HP nerd she is, "Expecto Patronom!" In this one magical episode, Harry learns this spell to combat the dementors, the demons that suck the life (and happiness) out of everyone.  Angela lets dementors get to her, as I have done too, just as Harry seems to be especially weak to them.  In the story, Harry doesn't create a powerful patronus until he realizes that he has already made one in his past (after a weird magical time twist occurs).  Looking back now, these dementors are nothing, since I know I have shooed them away before and will do it again.