The cryfest

Well, it happened. On Sunday I ran my 22^nd half marathon of 2014, but more importantly it was the one year anniversary of my very first half marathon ever. (Otherwise referred to as my first organized race ever). This was my 24^th half marathon overall. Meaning that in exactly one year’s time I ran 24 half marathons.

I honestly still remember that very first one and how ridiculously nervous I was. I was so sick to my stomach the night before.  Thinking about it now I am not sure why, but I was. I guess I was afraid I was not going to complete it. 24 half’s later and that is no longer an issue.  Thank goodness. I am still in shock sometimes or rather denial of what I have actually accomplished this past year. In true Emily style if I decide I can and want to do something there’s nothing normal about it. I have to go out and run 24 freaking half marathons.

It was a beautiful run. My body wasn’t exactly feeling it, I’ve felt better during a run, but parts of it were simply gorgeous and I tried to focus on the beauty that was surrounding me. After all, that is part of where this love of running originated from. The pure thrill of connecting outside with nature and the inner voices in your head.

Chris ended up running most of this one with me. He typically runs at a much faster speed than I do, but on days where he is just not feeling it, he slows down and we go at it together. On occasion I enjoy the company and it makes it a different kind of race. Sometimes I just like to be alone and have my thoughts carry me and then some days I don’t mind his presence.  Consequently I didn’t have a lot of time on the run to be too retrospective about the one year anniversary. That was fine. I didn’t think about it too much. In fact I didn’t think about it post-race when we were enjoying our hot dogs in the gorgeous park.

Chris and I drove separate cars for other reasons. This race was close to the house only like 20 minutes, and it was later in the morning so it wasn’t a big deal. I really enjoyed the nice country drive in peace and quite honestly. But the moment I got into the car post-race and cranked up the radio it happened, it all hit me at once. I had plugged my phone into the iPhone jack and was blaring the song, Sweet Disposition by the Temper Trap (my current song obsession) and then in a moment of flooding emotions I started bawling in the car. Yes, every single emotion hit me at once. I thought I had successfully avoided the onslaught of emotion but I was entirely wrong. I couldn’t control my tears from behind my sunglasses. I cried and cried. It was not because I was in pain or sad. It was the cry of pure satisfaction and disbelief. I wasn’t really sure if it was going to hit me at all, but all the factors lined up and it was definite waterworks for me.

When I ran that first one I had an idea that this was something I could really get into, but I had no idea what journey I was about to embark down upon. I had no idea the cool places or epic experiences running would bring. I had no idea how much it would come to play a significant role in my life. And 24 freaking half’s in a year. Crazy.

My body is amazing. I mean that in the most humble way possible. The human body is simply an amazing thing. I can put it thru the years of abuse I have and somehow it bounces back and is able to take the wear and tear of running.  It can just keep going and going. That is a blessed thing. I had no idea if I could actually physically endure that much running in a year, but here I sit today, the day post my 24^th half marathon and I feel great.  I feel like I could run another one today. This is because our bodies are simply amazing and capable things. We never give them enough credit or appreciate their abilities enough.  Someday I might not be able to do this, but while I can, I am going to enjoy the hell out of it.

On Saturday we did run a quick little 5k, before taking Molly to the eye specialist. When we woke up Saturday morning Molly’s eye looked the best it had in 2 weeks, but we were still taking her in. The vet was amazing and went to show us that our current vet is a joke and we will be getting a new one. She was wonderful and so knowledgeable and great with Molly. Bottom line is molly had a deep injury that got a bacterial infection and it’s been trying ever since to heal itself, and protect itself with a glossy look and then last week red blood vessels came in full force to her eye and it alarmed us because it looked like her eye was all bloody but the doctor told us that was simply it trying to repair itself.

The doctor put us at ease and told us that it should all run its course and over the next couple weeks it should continue to look better. She glossy look may never 100% return to normal but that is okay, she can see out of her eye and everything is okay. The local vet just didn’t have enough understanding of the situation to predict anything and consequently really should not have freaked us out by telling us she could lose her eye. That was unnecessary. She seems to finally be on the road to recovery and this was the hugest relief we had of the whole weekend. Molly has my heart and I have never been more worried about my baby girl.

Saturday night I celebrated my sister’s birthday at my mom’s house with my family. It was nice to see everyone. I had to avoid copious amounts of shit food. It was difficult. I only caved and had spice cake because baked pastries of any sort are my true weakness, but I didn’t do too poorly. One of my favorite moments of the entire night was when my nephew Ethan asked me to cut some cardboard for him (he was making himself some cardboard armor and a helmet!) and was like it’s hard. And I was cutting him strips of cardboard with scissors and he was like, “Is that hard?”  I was like not really. And he looked at me and said, “It’s because you go to the gym, you are strong.”

For what it’s worth I am leaving an impression on his mind of someone who is strong and active and I think that is cool. He is 6 years old and at this point in his life understands that I am a healthy person who goes to the gym.  It’s nice for him to be exposed to all sorts of things in life and this is just another example of why it’s important to have lots of people in their lives with varied interests. Show them that there are lots of cool and worthwhile things in life.

Just have to get thru 2 more weeks and then I get to go on my much needed mini vacation to San Jose. I really really am looking forward to getting away. I think we need it! It’s Monday and it’s starting to get yucky outside which sucks and I sure am glad I have some fun things planned to look forward to. Oh and my passport came in the mail on Saturday so it took less than 2 weeks for them to process my passport application. It’s now safely locked up in the safe. Yeah! One less thing to worry about.