Bucket List

i am sitting here enjoying my morning coffee and watching the news (of course) with my sweet little dog snoring on the bed beside me. A report comes on about the recent Pittsburgh Triathelon and it causes my mind to race.

I am one of those people who have always wanted to run a marathon. i guess you could say it is on my 'bucket list'. i run now, but there is an enormous difference between my 3-5 miles a few times a week and 26.2 miles all at once.

I started running a smidge over a year ago and I remember being in Texas and there was this wonderful trail near where I was staying that was newly created for the locals to get in shape. It was clay/dirt and was 2.5 miles through all sorts of wooded area and close to all the medical centers in San Antonio.

My first run almost killed me and I literally had to stop and walk 10 or more times and it took about 30 minutes to finish. The next morning I was sore in areas I did not realise I could be sore! I pulled muscles in my groin! Ouch!

It took almost three months until I could finish the entire coarse. there were hills that killed me and the head was horrid. However, eventually I could finish the loop and started to work on improving my times! By the time I left I could finish the 2.5 miles in about 16 minutes, not exactly record speed.

I remember one guy (a little fellow) who would haul ass on that trail. He would lap me a few times before I could finish my one lap. I kept thinking as he blew past me that I could run for 50 years and never be as fast as he was or in as good of shape. It was then I lowered my standards. I thought don't expect to be like him, just be the best me I can be.

But still lurking in my mind is the marathon and maybe a mini-triathelon! Maybe I should go for a run today.