Birch Bay Marathon

My legs are like the battery in my mp3 player. They can keep going once they are depleted unless you press any of the buttons. If you power that thing off it won't have enough juice to turn back on again. Luckily my shoe lace did not come untied in the last 4 miles like it was threatening to.
My friend told me about two months ago that we should do the Birch Bay marathon. I was like, oh, my long run right now is an hour, hmmm. I moved it up to two hours that weekend easily enough so I was like- you're on!
I live in a sort of good place for running. If you like running lots of hills. The Stimson Nature reserve is in my backyard, literally. From there it is a three minute or so vertical climb, the trail itself is a bit hilly and I can get to Sudden Valley from the trail which really should be called Sudden Mountain. If I don't want to run hills I have to drive somewhere else, so it boils down to which do I hate more? Driving, or running hills? Usually driving wins the most hated competition.
Running a marathon you have been training for for two months is painful! I have never done that before! I ran 3:47 which on the one hand is 30 minutes slower than I have run on the Birch Bay course before ( I actually did a 30 mile there that was a minute faster and felt much better), but on the other hand it is kind of cool that I can return to sub four marathoning in two months. Maybe I should train longer next time...It might keep the number one thought in my head from being- I want a car to hit me so I don't have to run anymore! (JK, please cars don't hit me again) Except my friend's boyfriend, Chikara Omine, who won the race said that was close along the lines of what he was thinking as well. Why do we all do marathons if we just want to quit the entire time?   

Joel Wants You to Think He is Nice Now

He says that on the phone-
I have learned my lesson. I'm nice now.
What is that lesson?
That I shouldn't make people run what I want them to run, but let them run what they love,
I'm paraphrasing, I don't remember exactly what he said, but I wish I did, because the way I remember it that sounds like I get to run the steeplechase now!
He's had lots of practice acting nice while coaching other people, namely college children. He tells me a lot about how nice he is to his college children. He does things like let them talk and he just listens, huh. You have to be nice to college children because their tuition kind of pays for the athletic staff, they have overprotective parents and school officials and they just can't handle ultra running. I'm totally not jealous, btw. Even though they get to do fun things like cross country and the steeplechase and team practices. They also have to go to school. Euw.
So Joel's trying to lure me back into running by doing things like saying "good job" after I've run 6 miles. I don't know who you are anymore. I am training small, goal right now just to run the Birch Bay marathon with my friend Diann at a leisurely pace. That still requires long runs. But an amazing thing has happened the last few long runs- they weren't totally terrible. I've run two and half hours and two forty five and even though my 2012 self would not have considered that a long run, that's still a lot of running. Being able to recognize that may be the first step to recovery. I'm at the second step- I can do that distance again and only sort of not like it, just a healthy normal amount. Part me thinks it's kind of an exciting challenge to run far and it can go by quicker than I think. Another amazing thing has happened- I've gone on an 8 mile run and felt good about it. I didn't feel like I should go curl up in a ball and die for being such a lazy bad runner. 8 miles is good, I thought. Another day I ran 11 just because it felt good to be in the woods, not because I would feel guilty if I ran less than 10, I was running for a reason other than guilt. Guilt is not a good reason to run btw, it might seem like it because it can last for several years but it is a miserable experience and will fail eventually.
   Joel says- I am sorry, he used to be a little umm insane? He says he's learned now that athletes have to keep wanting to run. You can't physically force someone to run especially when you are in Milwaukee and can't drive right behind them with a whip. (Disclaimer- ok Joel never did this. I'm sure he thought about it though.) He says- I want you to love running again.
He says all this but he is making me write my blog when I am sick and have woken up at one in the morning. I fell asleep though and finished the next morning. And I don't feel too bad about that, ha!