A couple of weeks ago, I made a decision. It was minor, as far as earth-shattering decisions go, but a big deal to me. I opted to switch my race from the whole marathon, to a half-marathon. As of September 5, I was finally given the all-clear to do resistance training and core work again.

Surgeons can be pretty picky about core work after any kind of abdominal surgery.

My marathon training continued, without strength training and abdominal work.

My running suffered.

On my last high-altitude training run, I realized I felt pretty darn good around 11 miles, and crummy after that. I told Lara that I thought I might want to postpone the marathon. She was beyond supportive, even going so far as to point out that waiting until next year would put me at the youngest age in my bracket, instead of the highest.

For those of you who don’t run, I’m currently in the 35-39 group – until Halloween. The next bracket is 40-44.

Yesterday, on 9/11, I ran the half-marathon in Ventura, California. At the halfway mark I realized that the 10k is my favorite distance. I still had another 6.5 miles to go, though. 🙂

During this time, five years ago, I was getting chemo infusions. Now, I’m running a half-marathon. I can’t think of a better way to tell cancer to f*ck off.

My Maddie took some photos, and they were very instructive:

1.) I am THAT meme about running, and
2.) When I think I’m sprinting at the end, it only feels that way.

I hope this comic relief has brought you a bright point on your Monday. Never forget all we’ve lost, and never stop moving forward.

Blessings to you all!

That bottom image? Totally me. 😉

Before! At check-in on the 10th.

Results. My goal was 2:30. I beat my own set time, so I’m pretty happy. Okay, sore, but happy.

Some actual footage. When I see this I recognize that I look damn tired. 🙂

Now, to bed I go. Okay, not quite. But as soon as 8:00 p.m. rolls around, goodnight!