Inspiration.

First of all, thank you so much for your nice, inspirational and encouraging comments to my last post. I can’t even begin to tell you how excited I am to start this new chapter, and can’t wait to talk about my experience as a dietetic intern (hooray)!

But for now, some running. 
I set out on Saturday morning for a longish run – my first post-injury Saturday morning long run since before the marathon a few months ago. I think these are the runs I’ve missed the most – I love the feeling that comes over me after running for a few hours and being able to think about whatever I want while traipsing around my favorite running spots.

Unlike the last time I ran this route in shorts and no sleeves, I layered up and carried Hot Hands so my hands wouldn’t freeze – hellooo January and 15 degree wind chills!

The run went great and all body parts were feelin’ good from start to finish. I think this base building phase is going well so far, and hopefully I’ll be right on track to start marathon training in about 3-4 weeks.

And if I didn’t already have a solid runner’s high…
Saturday was a great day for running, as I’m sure anyone who watched the Olympic Marathon Trials – scratch that, anyone who followed coverage online or via Twitter since NBC was too lame to air it live – can attest.

(source)

(source)

Meggie came over to watch the taped broadcast in the afternoon, and even though we already knew the results were still kind of on the edge of our seats when mile 25 rolled around. So many gutsy, inspirational performances!

The marathon is such a fickle event, and having one race decide your Olympic fate is unforgivable. Anything can happen on race day, and while a part of me thinks this is completely unfair (I mean, Marta Karolyi individually chooses who she wants on the U.S. Olympic Gymnastic team), it’s also part of what makes the marathon so intriguing and special.

I guess this is the case whether you’re training for the Olympic Trials or just your next goal race. Putting months of hard work into one day is kind of nuts when you think about it, but I really think that’s part of the reason why I love marathons so much. No matter how race day goes, there’s always a lot to learn and leave you hungry for next time.

Even though I’ll never be much more than a middle-of-the-packer, seeing the pros digging so deep yesterday inspired me to work as hard as I can to achieve my running goals this spring. Cheesy, but those guys are proof that it pays off in the end!

After Meggie left I made some dinner and decided not to go outside for the rest of the day (warm apartment FTW).

Baked cod, roasted Brussels sprouts, sweet potato fries

But I put my inspiration to good use and started working on my marathon training plan – T minus one month until go time!

Question: Did you watch the OTs? Who were you rooting for? I loved seeing Meb and Shalane break the tape, but my heart broke for Amy Hastings and Dathan Ritzenhein – they gave that race everything they had.