Logistics & A Fire In Your Heart.

Yesterday morning I woke up alert and excited at 6am. I know, it shocked me too. I guess when it comes to doing something that I'm really pumped for, it's a lot easier to get outta bed. Wish I could bottle that enthusiasm for daily life. Anyway, I got up at 6am and made my way into the FREEZING morning cold (had to have been in the high 30s, low 40s) to volunteer for the Athens Half Marathon! It was awesome. I got there way before the sun did, and we all walked around aimlessly for 5 minutes, breathing bursts of white breath into the air before our chilly faces, and then we were assigned some work. We moved barricades all along the finish line to create a shoot for the runners to run in, and to keep the spectators out. Those things were heavy, wet, and FREEZING. My poor hands felt like they had frostbite halfway through. Note to self--next time, bring gloves. After that we moved thousands of water bottles, unwrapping them from their bulk packages and setting them up on tables, and then we had to individually unwrap thousands of the medals that each runner received.

It was a race within a race--everybody was running around in this behind the scenes scenario saying, "Ok, the first runner should be here in 45 minutes, we still need to get suchity such and blankety blank set up and moved over there!!" There was chaos, disorder, and confusion, but by the time the first runner made it through (something around 1 hour and 9 minutes, I think. NUTS), everything was set up and perfect. I'm always amazed at what we take for granted when we go to things like that... how much work and planning goes into the execution of such a grandiose event. It reminds me to appreciate it when I'm not on the "freezing-cold-barricade-moving-volunteer" side of things.

It was really the coolest thing ever, though, to watch the race from my viewpoint, just on the other side of the finish line, handing out medals. I handed out hundreds of medals and cheered on and encouraged every single runner. When my good friend and OL'11 brother Fernando Godina came through around 1:35, they announced his name and I looked up and started screaming and jumping up and down like I was insane. He ran towards me and someone else tried to hand him a medal... I practically shoved the guy away and go, "NO! This is MY friend!" and got the honor of putting a medal around my friends neck. Coolest. Feeling. Ever. So proud of you, Ferny!

I met some really cool people that were volunteering with me too. Among those cool people was a young lady who told me about what I think will be my very own first half marathon. Yes, kids, you heard me right. I'm planning it already.

I'll never forget this summer going into Fernando's room one night after I hobbled through a walk with sprinting bursts down Baxter Street and asking him about my running goals. "Fernando..." I nervously, awkwardly begun, "Is it unrealistic to aim to run a half marathon before I graduate college?" He hardly even understood what I was asking. "I just mean, I don't know what a realistic time-line looks like to train for something like that when I'm starting from where I am." Where I was then was a girl who weighed roughly 225+ and was really, really sad about it, and couldn't run more than 30 seconds without fainting dramatically. I continued, "I kinda think that, well, maybe if I train really hard, I could run one in a year... is that totally ridiculous?" He stared at me. "Honestly, I think you're giving yourself too much room for error." I was so taken aback. He explained to me that I needed to push myself... that I would achieve such greater things than I'd ever imagined. Thinking back now, I'll never forget those words of wisdom... You're giving yourself too much room for error. He'll never know how much that affected me, helped me... inspired me.

So, this is the half marathon I'm aiming at, and I'm kinda going bonkers even acknowledging that I'm really literally planning on running 13.1 miles in 146 days. But, I really think it's going to happen. Because being at that race yesterday, it lit (or re-lit?) a fire in my heart. I want to run. I kept meeting people volunteering who said, "Oh, I don't run. I'm here because so-n-so is running and I want to support them... but I just never got into running, not my thing." (Which reminded me of this commercial by Kaiser Permenante, which I absolutely LOVE.) See, running, it kinda is my thing. I've learned to love it. And watching those tearful, explodingly happy and prideful runners cross that finish line... I decided that it's never too soon to make your dreams come true.

So yesterday I routed a new run on MapMyRun.com and took off for a 3.4 mile run. It felt so good to be out in the sunshine, breathing crisp October air, and being one of those people you always see, running along the side of the road, doin' their thang. I'm one of those people, and I don't know if I could love it any more.

So those were a lot of words, just for you. :-) May you find a fire in your heart today, even if it is but a small flame like a candlewick. That is enough. Just remember: