Week 2: Find a Way

This week's long run plan was 9 miles at 10:45 pace. Completed it in one hour and 35 minutes. Faster than the target pace for the morning, but definitely slower towards the end. My legs didn't do what my mind was telling them. 

26.2 seems unattainable.

However, one of the things that I know from training for the half, is that distance is something that has to be worked up to. Anyone can do a marathon if they want to. It's just a matter of training. Finding time, making time, learning about the process, deliberate workouts, support from family, etc. etc. I'm lucky in that I have a husband who supports my crazy self challenges.

Recently I finished reading Diana Nyad's  auto-biography, Find a Way.  In it, the endurance swimmer recounts her harrowing journey of swimming the 111 miles from Cuba to Florida in 2013. While that feat alone seems insurmountable, the fact that she had to try 5 times to complete her mission seems unthinkable. And these weren't five times of swimming a bit and deciding that it's not going to happen today. Each of her attempts were mammoth athletic and death defying feats in-and-of-themselves. Nyad was attacked by the deadly box jellyfish, swam off course resulting in miles of wasted energy and time, besieged by dangerous storms all while swimming for hours, sometimes days and THEN deciding it's not going to happen today.

An uncomfortable 9 miles seems ridiculous.

Nyad's book is brimming with motivational poster quotes that I continue to think about, but in this journey I find these 4 guidelines not only instructive, but lifelines for me.

1: [ ] You are truly the only thing you have complete control over.

2: Know everything possible about the elements, the obstacles.
Knowledge is power.

3: Surround yourself with brilliant and honorable people.

4: Unshakable faith. Go so far as defiance.Refuse to accept limitations and mediocrity.

I'm scared. It's only a few weeks in and I'm terrified. I'm scared to have announced that I'm doing this because now I feel like I can't back out. And I'm scared that at some point I'm going to be stung by a metaphorical jellyfish, or that my body/heart/or mind will decide it's not going to happen today.

But I remain defiant. 10 miles is on tap for this weekend after having moved into our new house.

Here we go indeed.