ahhh spring BOSTON MARATHON!

So spring is really here. Garden work is truly happening and ALL of the animals are shedding. Indra just finished her spring vacation week and is primed for summer. There was not a day this week that she was not on a horse. She and her friends were riding all week back and forth and all around the hill towns. She even managed to ride in Hopkinton at the mile marker of the Boston Marathon.

Some very good friends who grew up in Hopkinton invited us out for a play date to socialize and watch the Boston Marathon, and collect clothing from the race. This year was not my year for Boston due to injury but next year, next year, next year!!It was incredible to watch. We stood at the crest of the first uphill really in the race at the mile marker. The first crew to come were the folks who were seriously impaired. There were people walking with oxygen tanks, folks in wheelchairs only using their legs, people with prosthetic limbs. Then came team Hoyt and one other person pushing an adult in a jogging chair. Then came the wheelchairs! Flying at first. The folks in the lead make it look so effortless but it clearly is not, in the second wave of wheelchairs there were many people struggling mightily to make it up that first hill, rolling back a bit to make it up a bit. Next came the hand crank wheelchairs, amazing again. The came the ELITE WOMEN. Totally amazing to watch. Then came the elite men, then came waves and waves of every day people running and trying and succeeding, and finally chucking off massive amounts of clothes that we all harvested and stocked up on for running. Really it is amazing the mountains of clothes people throw off.

The marathon inspired Indra's friend to train more and we have set up a plan to work on getting her ready for a half marathon. She is motivated, strong, and enjoys running so i am excited. Let the fun begin!

it feels good to kick a**

As Silly as it may seem, those of you who know the power of the words spoken to me today will understand, it made my day. I was running up one of local mountains, hills to you west coast ladies, and as i was running up i met another woman doing a side step down in the snow. She looked great, athletic and strong. She looked at me shook her head and said,"You are hard core woman!" I smiled and said thanks. Maybe she knew that her simple words made my run 10 times easier and way more fun, maybe she didn't but i owe my early March attitude shift to her. I had been contemplating my lack of hard core-ness recently and wondering if i would ever see it again. Maybe i will never believe it entirely myself but having another woman athlete tell me just is excellent!

It feels good to kick ass! Why? I am not sure, i think there are myriad of different reasons for different people. For me currently i think it is validation that life is still long and bountiful. That i have so many more opportunities to do things with my body even though my children are growing up.

Today i was having tea with a dear friend and she was talking about having an emotional reaction to watching the olympics. Her reaction was based on her pre kids devotion to skiing and that she has not gotten on a mountain nearly enough and hasn't had a chance to tear it up in a long time. We immediately made plans to spirit away a few hours from work and children to ski our butts off. It changes everything that feeling of freedom and strength.

The pictures above are of Skinner Mountain in South Hadley, and me right after running up and down it. If you look a little to the left you will see the Summit house up there looking small. It was beautiful and completely quiet up there today.

Here is an invitation to anyone reading this to tell their transformational moment to me. I would love to hear them.

found my good time

What a great race yesterday. It was a glorious selfish day to myself and i fully appreciated it. The beach was sandy with just a little snow, the crowd was huge and the sun was shining. I had no idea that there were fancy parts of Hampton Beach. The mansions were palatial in size and the grounds were quite like those of manors. I really had no idea. I thought Hampton Beach was all leopard print and half shirts. The run was really lovely. There were 3 other barefoot runners in the crowd, all men but 3 others none the less.

I met so many women and watched so many of them kick asphalt! It was so inspiring and it was certainly good timing for my morale with the olympics in full swing. I used a few key words in the last few miles of the race. I borrowed Leslie's COURAGE, and my STRENGTH, and POWER. I seemed to really have needed them from miles 10 to 13. It just goes to show again and again that training isn't really that necessary. I think i will train for my next race and see if i can really kick it into gear. Do any of you have any training vs non training stories you would like to share? Let me know...and get out there and play and feel proud of yourself.