We are always running for the thrill of it

"You're running HOW far? At WHAT time?' Unsurprisingly this was my parents' reaction when I casually dropped that I planned on running 11 to 12 miles at the god awful hour of 7am on Sunday morning. I intended to head up to Ronald Reagan Airport then loop back to my house, a distance that my stepdad would literally have had to bribe me to BIKE with him when I was younger. While I've kept my parents abreast of all the races from the past few months, I suppose that seeing truly is believing, especially when it comes to their formerly commitmentphobe runner daughter.

Speaking of which, I finally discussed my Comrades ambitions with my parents. Obviously I have no qualms broadcasting this goal and its progress over the internet to my friends and friendly stalkers, but something about vocalizing it to my parents carries so much more weight. In many aspects of my life, I frequently delay telling the rents about major developments, be it a new apartment, the end to an ongoing break-up, or even my class schedule, preferring to wait until things are utterly finalized.

While my parents have always been incredibly supportive of anything I set my mind to, I suppose part of my reluctance stems from my fear of disappointing them if I don't go through with endeavors, coupled with a small desire to avoid fielding questions about things/people/places who's 15 seconds of my fame in my life have already passed. However, at this point I can firmly say that I am committed to running Comrades (body allowing) so it's important to loop in my family on my next big life goal. My parents' reaction to the Comrades discussion was slight skepticism (which is COMPLETELY understandable), but mainly support and encouragement for which I am very very grateful. Looking forward to many copies of Born to Run for my birthday. Always need the relevant research material!

What inspires you to get out there? Totally tangential but has anyone read Born to Run - thoughts?

I DID follow through with my 7am long-run on Sunday morning, getting up before even my mother. First time for everything. Fueled up with my standard pre-race/long run meal of a slice of whole grain bread topped with peanut butter, sliced banana, and honey. Perfect mix of quick acting carbs and protein. The goal for Sunday's long run was more for time than distance. It'd been over two months since I'd ran for longer than an hour and a half(ish), and with marathon training looming on the horizon in 3 months (SO SOON!) I figured it was time to start bringing back the lengthy long runs. So I decided to go out at a comfortable pace, run for two hours for the endurance/psychological challenge, and not really worry about distance. Running from my house to the airport and back turned out to be about 12.7 miles, which I finished in around 2hours! Even better, legs and knees felt totally fine afterward, thankyouholymotherofchrist. Returned home just in time for a super tasty brunch of challah french toast, bacon, and fruit salad. After snarfing that down, I was obviously hungry a few hours later, but luckily had lots of spring veggie risotto to chomp down on for dinner. Mmmmmm, carbs. All in all, a fantastic weekend home!

Up next: Wednesday is marathon day of judgment! The results of the 2010 ING New York City Marathon lottery will be announced. It's only a 1:8 chance that I got in so pretty please keep your fingers crossed for me! Otherwise, it's off to DC on October 31st to run the Marine Corps Marathon with Kim!