{"id":2490,"date":"2015-04-04T14:44:32","date_gmt":"2015-04-04T14:44:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/annetarsia.com\/?p=2490"},"modified":"2015-04-04T14:44:32","modified_gmt":"2015-04-04T14:44:32","slug":"its-more-than-crossing-the-finish-its-crossing-the-start","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bartonriveryarn.com\/annetarsia\/2015\/04\/its-more-than-crossing-the-finish-its-crossing-the-start\/","title":{"rendered":"It’s more than crossing the Finish, it’s crossing the Start…"},"content":{"rendered":"

It took me almost 50 years to find a sport that required no skill, but better late than never. Over the past several years I have become a dedicated distance runner.\u00a0 Knitters understand the power of repetitive motions, and how doing small things over and over can get you to amazing places.\u00a0 In running, you just have to keep putting one foot in front of the other.\u00a0 I ran my first Portland marathon in 2007. My 2nd Portland marathon time qualified me to run in the Boston marathon.\u00a0 That seemed a terrific way to celebrate turning 50, so I went for it.\u00a0 Since then I have run a marathon almost every year, usually the Portland marathon because it is held where I live, so that’s easy.\u00a0 I missed a year because it conflicted with teaching at Interweave Knitting Lab, and I missed 2014 because of injury.\u00a0 Even with sporadic races, I’ve managed to collect a bunch of medals.<\/p>\n

\"marathon<\/a><\/p>\n

The distance is the same for every marathon (26.2 miles, and that last .2 is THE WORST), but Boston is special.\u00a0 Participating in that event, with the best runners in the world, is an amazing experience.\u00a0 My second blog entry was written after the Boston marathon bombing in April 2013, and I expressed my feelings about it Here.<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0 I’ve qualified for Boston every single time I’ve raced, and I have actually run twice – in 2008 and 2010.\u00a0 The first time I just wanted to see if I could do it.\u00a0 I decided to go again in 2010 because the first time I was so dazzled that I didn’t remember it very well.\u00a0 In 2010, I took more time to watch and enjoy the crowds and atmosphere.<\/p>\n

I’m not a fast racer, but I have been consistent.\u00a0 My PR (personal record) of 3:51:10 was set at Portland Marathon 2010.\u00a0 My Boston times were 3:53:44 in 2008, and 3:52:16 in 2010.\u00a0 No matter how I train, I seem to have one speed, and my pace is gradually slowing down.\u00a0 My last marathon was Portland 2013, and my time was 4:02 – slower but still enough faster than my qualifying time (4:11) to get me into Boston, one more time.<\/p>\n

This year I’m coming back from injury, so my training has been cautious.\u00a0 I have a pile of shoes that I alternate, and orthotics to support my feet.\u00a0 I keep track of miles, times, terrain and what shoes I wore on a calendar.\u00a0 Regular massages with Tara at Manual Medicine are keeping my muscles in shape, and I am doing as much yoga and stretching as time allows.\u00a0 I am immensely grateful to be running again.\u00a0 I know that my time will be much slower as I keep getting older (don’t you hate how that happens?), and after coming back from injury.\u00a0 It is not fun to see yourself stop improving, and then actually get WORSE, but that isn’t a reason to quit.\u00a0 I am determined to keep crossing that starting line and be grateful for the opportunity.<\/p>\n

I have an angel helping me with that committment. My virtual running partner is Chelsea King, a runner who tragically lost her life too soon.\u00a0 Her family’s foundation, Chelsea’s Light<\/a>,\u00a0 works to make young women safe to pursue their lives and dreams without fear.\u00a0 When I am running and getting really tired, I think of Chelsea and I keep running because she can’t.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Chelsea<\/a>
Chelsea King<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Life is precious, too precious to waste.\u00a0 So, find something you want to do and take the first step.\u00a0 Then, just keep going.\u00a0 Because you can do it!<\/p>\n

\"IMG_2476\"<\/a> \"IMG_2477\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It took me almost 50 years to find a sport that required no skill, but better late than never. Over the past several years I have become a dedicated distance runner.\u00a0 Knitters understand the power of repetitive motions, and how doing small things over and over can get you to amazing places.\u00a0 In running, you […]\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2487,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,10],"tags":[27,190],"class_list":["post-2490","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-book","category-blog","tag-boston-marathon","tag-chelseas-light"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bartonriveryarn.com\/annetarsia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2490","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bartonriveryarn.com\/annetarsia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bartonriveryarn.com\/annetarsia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bartonriveryarn.com\/annetarsia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bartonriveryarn.com\/annetarsia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2490"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/bartonriveryarn.com\/annetarsia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2490\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2499,"href":"https:\/\/bartonriveryarn.com\/annetarsia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2490\/revisions\/2499"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bartonriveryarn.com\/annetarsia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2487"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bartonriveryarn.com\/annetarsia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2490"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bartonriveryarn.com\/annetarsia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2490"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bartonriveryarn.com\/annetarsia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2490"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}