one down on the bucket list

Jogging is very beneficial. It's good for your legs and your feet. It's also very good for the ground. It makes it feel needed.

- Charles Schulz, Peanuts

After a year of persuading myself that yes, I would like to commit to The Marathon Goal, followed by three months of training and accompanying books-on-tape, several recants and re-persuasions, a solo-marathon to prove to myself I could (in fact) do it, and some Nike purchases (which made all the difference)... I have finally accomplished my goal. 

I'm really very happy it's over.

I ran the Ø-Marathon on Thursday (cannonball island marathon, near Copenhagen). It was the most beautiful uncomplicated route I've run yet, half of it on the boardwalk along the coast.

It started out perfectly - sunny, breezy weather, terrific fellow runners who made sure I didn't get myself lost, and an overabundance of nervous excitement melting into instant energy. I started asking myself why it'd taken me so long to do this in the first place.

And then I hit 16 miles and my ankles were getting sore. 20 and my legs felt oh-so-tired. During the final 6 miles and however-many-yards, all I could think was 'WHY THE HELL AM I SO MEAN TO MYSELF?" (I thought the same thing at the end of my solo-marathon, and then I stupidly forgot about it.)  I considered quitting.

But the main thing is ... I am my father's daughter. (I love you dad ;) So I kept going. Nevermind that almost everyone else was on their second marathon of the day and didn't seem nearly as tired as me. One woman, in fact, is running a marathon every day for an entire year (she finishes in July). What do you even say to that?

'Wowwwww. You're going to do this again tomorrow? And the day after that? And the day after that? I might be walking again by then. Maybe.' Or: 'Do you ever wish someone would sit on you, to make you stop?'

When they asked 'when do you run your next marathon?' and I answered 'I don't know that I'm ever doing that again,' they all laughed because they thought I was kidding. I laughed too, because I'm not. (She says, wondering if it's true.) I've been running fairly consistent half-marathons for a couple months now and they finally feel like a comfortable run, but I'm told it can take one or two years before a full marathon feels this way. Can't say I'll ever be that much of a diehard.

If I hadn't moved to Denmark, I doubt the  marathon would've made my bucket list in the first place. So here's to Denmark - cheers!

For now I'm just happy I actually finished. It may have taken a whopping 4.5 hours and a minute (and eternity, in fact I think I'm still running it), but it was worth it. I'm so very proud of my short legs and my funny plastic medal.

Richard: What's a matter? Too old, Chamberlain?
Chamberlain: Of course not.
Richard: Of course not.
Chamberlain: All right, then, I will.
Margaret: How about you?
Richard: Don't be silly.
Susan: Oh Dickie, you must, I want a medal.
Richard (to Chamberlain): Get her a medal.
Chamberlain: Too old, eh?
Richard: What? To run in a sack race? Nothing to it.

- The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer