Running Lessons: Stories matter

I ran a marathon last weekend.  It wasn't pretty. Things went to pieces early in the race when my right knee seized up and I spent most of the next three and a half hours in considerable pain. It was disappointing because I'd spent nearly six months preparing for the race in hopes I'd finally manage to run a marathon in less than four and a half hours but, in the end, didn't improve on my personal best (PB) time at all. To make matters worse, because I was feeling so confident I was going to achieve a new PB, I'd been telling family and friends about it for weeks. So, needless to say, I was feeling more than a little disappointed, discouraged and embarrassed as I limped back to my apartment that evening.

Later, as I struggled to write a post about the experience for my other blog, It ain't about the Tiffany necklace, I was reminded of the importance of the stories we tell.  I wanted to be honest about what had happened but was also determined to try not to be too negative since many of my new TNT teammates are training to run their first marathons and the last thing I wanted to do was discourage them.  I also knew that the way in which I told the story would ultimately determine whether I remembered my fifth marathon as a mostly positive or negative experience.  In the end, I tried to tell a story about overcoming adversity, how lucky I was to be able to run at all, and how grateful I was to have friends and family who'd made it possible. (You can read the post here and decide for yourself whether I succeeded.)

In life, we constantly make choices (consciously or unconsciously) about the stories we tell - about ourselves and others, to ourselves and others. We can be positive or negative, hopeful or discouraged, generous or selfish, optimistic or pessimistic. We can cling to illusions about our own situations and other people's or we can open our eyes to reality and speak the truth as we see it.

It ain't about the Tiffany necklace

Some of you know that two years ago, I ran the Chicago Marathon as a member of Team in Training to raise funds for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of Canada.  Click here to visit the blog I wrote about the experience. In the two years since, I've stayed active with TNT as a volunteer and a sponsor. Now, after much soul-searching, I've decided to run another marathon - the Nike Women's Marathon in San Francisco - as a member of TNT Flex on October 16th, 2011.

My goals in taking on this challenge are:

• to raise at least $4,000 (hopefully more) for LLSC,
• to run the race in a respectable time, and
• to support team members here in Halifax and across the country as they train and fundraise for their own races. 

Once again, I'll be running in honour of Kirsi and in memory of Jon.  But I'll also be running in honour of the many others I've met or heard about through my involvement with TNT - people who's lives have been touched in one way or another by blood cancers.

Please consider sponsoring me - which you can do easily by visiting my fundraising page here. I'll be blogging about my TNT experiences once again (it helps keeps me honest!) so I hope you'll take a moment to check out the new blog, It Ain't About the Tiffany Necklace, where I'll be posting weekly updates on my training and reflections on my experiences. There, you can sign up to follow the blog and/or receive posts my email.

The next five months promise to be challenging and exciting. Training to run a marathon is never easy - especially when you're also working full-time and fundraising - so whatever encouragement and support you can offer on my journey will be greatly appreciated.

Running Adventures in Ottawa

I used to live in Ottawa where I trained for numerous races and got to know all the trails near my home well. I was in Ottawa again this past weekend so planned a long run route that took me back to some of my favourite haunts.