Will run for wine: Miles

Showing posts with label Miles. Show all posts

Wildcard Wednesday!

Welcome to the first "Wildcard Wednesday" Today's topic...

Just exactly how long is a mile?

“In contemporary English, a mile most commonly refers to the statute mile of 5,280 feet (1,760 yards, or 1,609.344 meters), the survey mile of 5,280 survey feet (1609.3472 m) (Wikipedia 4/13/11)

5,280 steps per mile. How many steps in my half marathon…69,168. Amazing. Each one of those steps helps bring you closer to a goal. The finish line.

But how long is a mile? It takes me about 20 minutes to walk a mile right now. I would love to get that closer to 15 minutes. I know that running, sadly, it would be the same! At least it was in high school gym class. Granted that was a long time ago, but there has been no improvement in that area. So 20 minutes, eh? That’s 4 hours to walk 13.1 miles. 4 hours of my life to push myself, to go beyond anything I have ever done.

So…I am a history nut, and have recently gotten into Greek mythology. Thanks to an obsession with Battlestar Galactica. Yes, I am a total and complete nerd. I was curious as to the history of what a marathon is… and why such a specific distance, 26 miles and 385 yards.

The name Marathon comes from the legend of Pheidippides, a Greek messenger. The legend states that he was sent from the battlefield of Marathon to Athens to announce that the Persians had been defeated in the Battle of Marathon, in which he had just fought, which took place in late summer, 490 BC. It is said that he ran the entire distance to the assembly without stopping and burst into the assembly, exclaiming “We have won.” before collapsing and dying.

Ok, so I am pretty sure that I won’t collapse and die after my marathon (I might feel that way…). But I won’t have just fought in a battle either. And thanks to my coaches I know to hydrate and fuel to avoid the aforementioned death or collapsing J. Although, it makes me think of the reason that I am doing this. For those who can’t. Each one of these miles will be a victory for me, and for my teammates. Each mile means that I have pushed myself for something bigger than me. I will be proud of each and every single mile that I log in my training and on race day. No matter what happens.

Have a suggestion for a "Wildcard Wednesday" topic? Leave a comment and I will add it to the hat!

Motivation Monday

With 2 months & counting to the Minneapolis Marathon with TNT- I am making the next 7 Mondays "Motivation Monday". My Mom told me about this song, "I won't let go" by Rascal Flatts. I first heard it on the radio and half way through; but I could not stop the tears from falling. I dedicate this to all of the people fighting cancer today. You are not alone- and I won't let go!!

"I won't let go" by Rascal Flatts- video on youtube

Mondays are the hardest days for me to get out of bed in the morning; I fight the urge to turn off the alarm and roll over. But as this event gets closer I need to harness all of the energy that I have in my body and get my butt to the gym. This past Saturday I walked 8 miles for…for well… the first time ever I think. Perhaps I may have done an 8 mile walk once when I was younger- but this was different.

I can always tell when I get to the 2 mile mark. My body wants to rebel- my legs ache and that little voice in my head says “you don’t really want to do this anymore…” But I tell that voice to shut it- and I keep going. But around the 5 mile mark, I start to feel good. Like I could keep going forever. But I learned this weekend that at 7 miles I have to make my legs work, will them to keep going. I have to tell myself that I have no other choice but to continue.

That little mind game makes me think of all of the people in my life that have, or had cancer- they had no choice but to continue. Because giving up means that fight only ends one way. They got up every day and went to their treatment- they fought everyday to survive. How many of us can say we fought for our lives? So far this morning I have gotten 2 emails from vendors that I work with, one lost her husband last July to pancreatic cancer, and another lost her mother in ’97 to biliary cancer.

The longer I am involved with TNT the more connections that I find to this disease. And that saddens me deeply. I wish it were the other way around. But that is why I am doing this- to make it the other way. To lessen the instances that keep coming up, to fight this disease one mile, one dollar at a time.

Will run for wine

Wildcard Wednesday!

Motivation Monday

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