Hang on, it'll be here before you know it

Yep, it's soapbox time: First of all: Congratulations to all who did eighteen miles or five hours yesterday. One thing only those of us crazy enough to do this know or will find out soon is: when you train for and complete a marathon, it changes you in many ways for the better. This is the one thing you can do for just you. Especially moms know, you go through the day doing and doing for everyone else in your life, but training for a marathon is something you do for just YOU. This afternoon, I was watching part of the coverage of the Kona(?) Ironman Triathalon held in Hawaii. Seeing the participants throughout the race with their grit and determination, and then seeing the look on their faces when they crossed the finish line brought tears to my eyes. That feeling of accomplishment, exhaustion, and wow, I did this after nine months of training can be a very emotional experience. Mark is right: If you can do eighteen in hot and humid Mississippi, you can do 26.2 miles in cool, no humidity, flat, people cheering you on the whole way Chicago. Soapbox time is over.
Well, I didn't do any running since last Saturday, so I was kind of worried about how I would do yesterday. We moved from our four bedroom house at the Rez to a three bedroom apartment in Pearl last Sunday and Monday. Either I was trying to get unpacked and settled in, or too exhausted and lazy to get up and meet the crew at 5:30am to go run. Hubby is now much closer to new job and the kids will be going to Pearl schools. I won't miss having to go down Lakeland everyday for almost everything. We've lived there for ten years, and boy, are we a family of messy pack rats. Junk, junk, junk. I couldn't decide how many miles I wanted to do yesterday. Eight? Ten? I wasn't going to do eighteen since I'm just doing a half marathon in four(!) weeks. Oh yeah.... Paula, Bessie, and Bobbie tried to get me to go the whole eighteen, but no thank you. I ended up doing a little over fourteen. How you all did four more miles after leaving Lakeshore for the second time yesterday in that heat was an amazing feat. Be proud of yourself. Until next time; keep on puttin one foot in front of the other.
One more thing: Thanks Cathy for a great party. It was so much fun having the time to talk with fellow LMMers. Both butts were wonderful, Mark and Clark. And the desserts. Good stuff.