Spirit of the Marathon

Yesterday I opted to drive in to work rather than do the bike – run – bike thing I did on Tuesday. I wanted a chance to bring a few things in to the office so I’d have less to carry with me on the ride in. I did get out for 4 miles over lunch and my legs were a bit tired. Maybe not biking in was a good thing. The run went okay apart from the tired legs and I still managed a fairly respectable below 11:00/mi pace. In the evening I headed over to the theatre to catch the one and only showing of Spirit of the Marathon. Tickets had sold out a day or two in advance so I was pretty happy I had gotten my ticket early. Once I entered the theatre I ran into Karen and a friend of hers, Leaha, who recently moved to Calgary. After chatting for a few minutes Dawn arrived as well. We made it into the theatre a bit on the late side and the only place we were able to find seats was in the second row. I saw a bunch of different marathon attire being sported – shirts from Boston, New York, Vancouver… Of course I wore something related to the Goofy Challenge! I have to say I loved the movie – it really encompassed so much of the emotions that I have felt along in my training. Deena Kastor had to overcome a stress fracture during her training, another fellow buggered up his knee and needed surgery. I remember being in the podiatrist’s office and hearing the words “stress fracture” and the emotion I felt that I wasn’t going to be able to make my first marathon. I was really impressed with Deena’s attitude as she worked through her injury. (Sigh, if only I’d had access to an underwater treadmill…) I also loved that they profiled Lori, a woman who ran on her own all the time, versus the other first time participant that ran exclusively with a group. I see both sides of solitary versus group running – it made me laugh that the group runners thought that anyone who would train for a marathon solo was crazy. Pretty well all my Goofy long runs were solo – I think you learn a lot about yourself when it is just you and the pavement for 20 miles. Seeing the profiled runners complete their training and run the race brought back so many emotions that I felt as I finished my 26.2 miles on January 13th. I remember crying as I was talking to my Dad at mile 20 and then when I got my Goofy medal at the end. The marathon is an emotional event and I was getting misty eyed last night as everyone was finishing their race. It was a great movie and it has me excited for my next 26.2 event in Quebec City in August. I can’t wait to do it again!