Marathon Magic

It has been three weeks since my first marathon and I am still realizing that I did it. I have been asked how it was multiple times and all I can say is "Awesome." I am not sure how to describe it, really.

 I have run a few times since, but nothing over 5k. Today was my first longer run. I slept in, had a good breakfast of steel cut oats with blueberries and greek yogurt. I then proceeded to get ready for my run. I decided to wear my Dublin Marathon "Proud Finisher" shirt.

As I pulled my head and arms through, I felt a surge of pride, exhilaration and energy surge through me. It came on like I had been sprinkled with fairy dust. "Wow", I thought, "I ran a marathon!"

In Dublin, you actually have to finish the marathon before you are given the shirt. That is a new experience for me as every other race I have run, I have received the shirt the day before the race in my race packet. I never wear it until I complete though; because not only have I not trained wearing it, but I have a race ritual that I like to earn my race shirt. I don't think that has anything to do with the magic I felt, but it is an interesting fact I wanted to share.

I saw the finish line

So out the door I went feeling all happy and glowy. I decided to run a route I haven't ran since I was training for the Sinister 7. It is a challenging 11.4km loop with a lot of hill climbing, It has a mix of trail and road which was perfect for today's fall day. It felt so magical to feel that something that was once incredibly hard for me today was incredibly enjoyable!
It is official!! I am addicted!

I want to work on my shorter distances a bit more this year. I am currently working on body sculpting, conditioning, flexibility and weight bearing explosive cross training. I have returned to my favorite DVD personal trainer Chalene Johnson (love her!) alternating her program with running.

This year my intention is to crack a 30 min 5k, a 60min 10k  a 2:15 21.1 k, and a 5hr marathon. I  encourage others to join in as I think this magic feels too good not to share.

I have already registered for the 21.1k in Vancouver in May and will be running the Okanagan full marathon in the fall.
Of course Barry will be with me for both of those. We plan to run some local races 5 & 10k in the area, and of course all the fun runs we can!

So Now What?

International breakfast welcome run

Wow! What a year it has been. I am still pinching myself. Did I just run a full marathon? In Ireland? Yes indeed I did. All 42.2 km of it. What a beautiful city Dublin is. What is more beautiful is the people I met along the way. A hundred thousand welcomes. I could go on and on in detail about every inch of the run and how I felt but I will just share the parts that were the most moving.
Standing in the third wave waiting to go, I felt incredibly proud to be there. I felt welcomed and grateful, oh...and full of delicious Irish food and spirit! I was ready to run.

Along the way I thought of all the wonderful places we had been and how for the first time in a long, long time, our family was truly experiencing the priceless gift of in the moment living.

Pushing through, and moving on :)

I struggled quite a bit between 21k and 30k or so. I can't explain why. Maybe I had too many Irish breakfasts the previous week, or maybe I was just letting my mind convince my body that this was hard.
Whatever it was I managed to push through.

When I came around the last 3k, I knew I had done it. I knew I could finish. That is when the street got narrow and the fans were close and all I could hear was that I was "brilliant" in a beautiful Irish accent. Well I started to cry, but I quickly realized that crying sucked up way too much energy and so I managed to hold my tears until I crossed the finish line.

Now I want to do it all again!

I followed very good advice from trainer Stephen to rest for two weeks and I have done that quite well.  I didn't exercise for 4 days after. Then we came back home so I started walking the dog for about a week before I began cross training with yoga. Okay , sure I cheated with some burpees and screamers in a 20 minute HIIT training session, but I did that only a couple of days ago, and it felt awesome.

I went with Barry today for our first post marathon run, and we ran with no gadgets. I felt so free of a schedule. No worries on pace or structure or distance...just run....ahhhhh.

Barry, Stephen & Karen -Proud Finishers!

BUT...that can't last forever. I am addicted to exercise and need to have a goal so I am working on that and will share in the near future.

Running In Circles

As I think about what it means to have successfully prepared for and completed the Dublin Marathon - a significant milestone in our 2DreamRunners journey, my mind is spinning in circles.  Our trip to the Éire seems composed of an intricate Celtic knot of intertwining circles overflowing with meaning and purpose. 

There were tangible circles made by our paths.

We travelled circularly through 22 of the 32 counties of Ireland and Northern Ireland, weaving left and right through small villages, vast peatland barrens, lush farmlands and forest and bustling towns and cities. And our circles wove briefly in and out of the circles of Irish people just going about their daily lives - rockus mobs of school kids cornering us in a Ballyshannon candy shop, in...around...and out of a million traffic circles, a cozy evening in a hub of Irish cultural intersection for supper and a pint of Guinness in the E J Kings Pub in Clifden, and resting under the safe and warm roofs of welcoming families in a bevy of B&B's.

The marathon route was a circle of sorts windings its way through all 13 neighborhoods of Dublin.  Running lets you experience a place perfectly.  The marathon speed is slow enough to let you take it all in and fast enough that you can see a good deal in a short time.  It's a buffet for the senses as you feel the texture of the road, hear the the voices of the people, smell the homefires burning and taste the sweet candy offered freely at each corner. 

And there were less tangible circles. 

Ireland surely deserves its "friendly" reputation!  Time and again the locals brought us into their circle of friends and networks.  We found the people very interested in our journey and eager to share their perspectives, jokes and warmth with us.  céad míle fáilte - we received at least a hundred thousand welcomes!

Circles represent unity.  Two weeks in incredibly close quarters away from the rigors of our normal lives sharing adventure and fun strengthened our family circle.  Nothing like a road trip to build our comradery - we laughed and enjoyed so freely - it was very liberating.  And we felt the strength and positive energy of our larger family unit back in Canada in a modern way through social media.

We were fortunate to spend an afternoon visiting the Newgrange Temple - a place older than Stonehenge in England and the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt.  At this ancient place one symbol is overwhelmingly present - the circle.  From the greater architecture, to the ancient megalithic art to the trinity of offering cradles - the wisdom and purity of circles are everywhere.  Precise engineering 5000 years ago acknowledges the circular path of the planets around our sun.  The passage and chamber are illuminated for 17 minutes on 4 days centered around the winter solstice.  For a very short time, the circles align and a very special energy fills the temple. 

In a similar way, our circle overlapped perfectly in this ancient land with so many others. For 4 days in Dublin we shared our stories, hopes, anticipation and success with many new friends from around the world.  We met, hung out with and said goodbye to Stephen and Vanessa.  And then just as quickly as we came together we dispersed all over the globe again.  It is wonderful that technology will allow us to keep building those new circles through the internet and we hope to converge again one day.

The 2DreamRunners vision is to help make dreams come true through the positive energy of health and wellness.  Our 2012 campaign is our first weave of circles where we focused our efforts to create inspiration through perspiration and determination.  Karen and I look forward to continuing to quilt together a network of our circles with those of others and make dreams come true.