more thoughts about the marathon...still processing and wanting to give it another GO....

I met the Goddess last night to recap our perspective races.
Both of us, struggled with the marathon on October 18th. She said that her first marathon went much smoother. She carried her phone, this time, called her sister, and said--don't worry about coming down to the finish line for awhile....I'm going slow.
She remarked on the beauty of San Francisco and how stunning the finish was. I think this is what prompted her to say--let's do the Big Sur 1/2 next year. I looked it up, and I believe it isn't until October. I would like to do a 1/2 in March or April, before the Napa 1/2 in July. I feel I will do another full, at some point, but I enjoy the 1/2 much better. My body recovered, right after the Georgetown 1/2. I didn't struggle, nearly as much, either, physically, during that race. I remember considering finishing at the 1/2, while running the Denver Marathon. It would have been so easy to make that turn, finish strong and celebrate my day. I knew it, but I also knew how disappointed I would have been.
I mentioned that I switched from the 1/2 to the full in July. I did it for myself and as a way to celebrate Brian's golden year.
Last year, he would have been 26 and he was born on September 26th. His mom got a tattoo to celebrate the momentous occasion. I considered that, but wanted my own thing. Traveling is always my thing, but it seemed like a cop-out, too. I wanted something that challenged me. The marathon made sense--26.2 miles to celebrate his golden year.
While other people were training and being inspired by stories of survivors of leukemia and lymphoma, I held to my belief that I would be celebrating his birthday. I know that sounds shallow, but I have no personal associations with either of those diseases. It is tragic, sad, and life changing, but it didn't motivate me to better myself or keep going. I think I tuned most of the rhetoric out. Again, I know how shallow that sounds, but think about training since May, where every Saturday morning is spent with a group where we discuss fundraising, mission moments and leukemia for the first 1/2 hour. Not to mention, the weekly e-mails from coaches and the staff at TNT. It is hammered into your brain, ad nauseum. I just wanted to run, to celebrate and grow.
I would recommend TNT to anyone that wanted to train for a marathon and give back at the same time. I wouldn't use the group, myself, for a future event, because I already did it and it wouldn't be right, with my admissions of tuning out the mission statements of fundraising announcements.
2010 is right around the corner. Another marathon looms in the distance. I feel 2-3 halfs in my future, too. Destination events might be my new way to travel. It would be interesting....