I did it!
Usually, as some weird function of my personality when I accomplish a goal of some sort, I day or think something to diminish that goal. Today was not that day.
I set the goal of finishing a marathon last year, but did not make that happen. This year, I set the goal again and had more determination to finish it. Part of this determination had to do with a half marathon experience that I wasn’t happy/satisfied with. A bit of distance from that situation has allowed me a gentler assessment of it. However, the vestiges of discontent hung out in my head and I wanted to slay them by running a marathon.
One of my approaches to ensuring that I am getting a reasonable amount of exercise is to squeeze it in on my lunch breaks, especially during the school year. This way I don’t feel like I’m creating a situation where a huge (disproportionate) amount of time that I have to spend with my son isn’t spent at the gym, him in child watch or watching as I complete laps around an indoor track. I don’t think that’s fair to him. On the other hand, I am proud that I am, in the times where he is with me while I’m exercising, setting an example, showing him that this is one of the things that you do to take care of yourself. Well, in preparation for the half-marathon I just mentioned, I did not build in enough training time. That race went predictably under those circumstances.
This time, I did a pretty good job of getting my runs in, particularly in the first half of the training. Later, I wasn’t putting in the miles that the plan recommended, but I was squeezing this in around other things I had going on. I am happy with it.
I have never completed anything that made me burst into sobs of pride. I was not expecting to be overcome with such a flood of emotion. In fact, I’m never really expecting to be overcome with a flood of emotion. But this time, I let it come, accepting it as a part of what may very well be the singular proudest moment of my life.