Runner Chick

One of my personal "must do" before baby comes/waiting for baby goals was to complete my second marathon. When I learned last fall that Eugene was to hold it's inaugural "Eugene Marathon" on 4/29/07, my mind was made up that this would be the race. And boy was I thrilled when upon disclosing my plans to my running buddy, Robyn, she also said that this race was one of her choices for her next marathon!! We have known each other and ran together for several years, and always talked of one day training for and running a marathon together. Now, that day had arrived!! We began our training in early February, and over the next few months we spent hours on end, running countless miles together. Really, I don't want to count them... At the peak of our training, I was logging 40+ miles a week. During training, we encountered just about any kind of weather we could imagine- from freezing, to rain (big surprise!), to those occasional beautiful sunny early spring days. We knew that the conditions for race day could be any of those. Luckily, when race day finally arrived, it was one of those beautiful spring days. I was very happy with the race overall; I felt good and strong crossing the finish line, and completed the race about 30 minutes faster than my first marathon! Finish time was 4:28 (yes, that's 4 hours and 28 minutes- 26.2 miles is a long way!). Well, I guess I should say I felt good besides the nagging pain in my foot, which over 2 weeks later I discovered was a stress fracture. (Needless to say, I haven't been running much since.) Even though I sustained an injury, it was worth it. Training and anticipation of the race made the winter months fly by, and occupied my mind that would have otherwise been focused on "the wait". Thanks Robyn, for sticking in there with me and being such an encouraging and motivating friend!!
RA