Haulin' A** at the Boston Marathon

I’ve been running a lot lately (read: 5 days a week for the past 7 weeks), training for a ½ marathon the first weekend in April. Sunday was my longest run yet - 9 miles! It was great. It has been good for me, deeply good – physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually. I get a lot of business done in my head – mentally writing papers, blogs, ideas; pray for friends, plan my schedule and my next meal, and catch up with headlines with Katie and Matt. Couric and Lauer, that is, on the mornings I’m on the treadmill.

I’ve been reading some on the history of women and running (I know, I am such a nerd). Did you know that female runners were not even allowed to run in races such as marathons and 5Ks until 1970? I’m not talking it just wasn’t smiled upon, I am saying “IT WAS NOT ALLOWED.” 1970! I can’t get over it. In fact, Katherine Switzer, the first female who officially registered for the Boston Marathon in 1967 under the name K. Switzer was actually chased down by the race officials and booted from the race! That's her in the picture above.

So I’m just going to use that as one more piece of motivation for my runs. I’ll think about my grandmothers who might have been haulin’ ass on the streets of the Boston marathon had it not been for a silly rule and some serious misconceptions…I dedicate this Saturday’s run to them.

There's a lot more that running has taught me: confidence, perseverance, discipline. I'll save those lessons for a post to come.