The top 10 in honor of the milestones over the past few days:
10. Counting cars on Storrow and Memorial Drive. It’s a twist to counting sheep, with many varieties to count.
9. Jump-starting training with a ridiculous run. Friends and I ran the Somerville Jingle Bell 5k run in December. Runners were incredibly festive. A group dressed up as reindeer and elves. They were physically connected as a sleigh team, and found themselves running in costume at different speeds. One slightly out-of-breath and strangled reindeer had to come out from under costume. I hope Santa lets his reindeers take breaks throughout Christmas Eve!
8. Having a reason to buy new shoes. I enjoy shopping, though I try to avoid excessiveness. I rarely buy more than a couple of running shoes each year, but when you’re training for a marathon, you reach the 500-mile/ 6-month lifespan much sooner! I’m buying a new pair this evening.
7. Learning song lyrics. There’s no better way to learn a song than play it through your head for an hour at a time.
6. Clearing thoughts. You can think about anything and everything on runs. It’s refreshing. After a certain point, you reach peace and relaxation, if not just plan tiredness and zoning out.
5. Running along the Charles River. The Charles may not be clean enough to swim in, but it sure is beautiful with the Boston skyline in the background.
4. Drinking and eating on team runs. Never has water, Gatorade, and strawberries tasted so good.
3. Coach Mergerle. He’s the best coach!-- Incredibly encouraging and supportive, and he feeds us from the back of his SUV.
2. Running towards a goal outside of myself. Being a student can be pretty selfish, where I often find myself in a me-mindset. Running for a reason outside of myself is refreshing. And receiving financial and emotional support for it keeps me on task. With this support, the least I can do is to put forth my best effort.
1. Pushing myself to the limits. It’s rewarding post-fact, especially when it was a lot easier to stay inside, catch up on sleep, or to party instead of running. Some of the most memorable runs have been in snow and rainstorms.
- January snow and wind storm – It was great making unintentional ankle clicks while turning onto super windy corners, and then pretending to be a dance star in a music video.
- February rain storm — Many pedestrians struggled to stay dry with inverted umbrellas on wet pathways. I was already wet and that’s how it was going to be! It was fun prancing around immobile people and mini-lakes.
- Last weekend’s rain storm – The flood warning was no joke. There were many lakes, rivers, and strong currents on the road, with trucks pumping out water. Remember the computer game Oregon Trail? It felt like the game, especially around Alewife Parkway in Cambridge and sections in Medford and Arlington. I had flashbacks to elementary school where I was at crossroads and had to decide if I wanted to risk fording the river. A fellow PMC'er almost lost her soaked cap as it flew off her head and floated down the road’s stream. Fourteen miles of that seemed p-easy in comparison with losing your oxen, food supply, and children while fording a river along the Oregon Trail after months of hardships.
