Persevering toward new goals

So why was I torturing myself for 90 minutes on the elliptical at the gym yesterday? My toes numb from the gliding motion, my quads aching from the speed, and my arms ready to give out, this instead of doing what I love...running.

• Well, because I am going through another one of those "injury phases" as I like to call them, a strained hamstring, and since it is low impact it helps to keep me in shape while recovering. 
• Also, I get cranky if I don't get my cardio fix during the week, therefore, I have actually become rather fond of the elliptical. 
• The main reason I am currently pushing to persevere from this injury is that I have 88 days before OC marathon!!!

 I signed up for OC Marathon with various goals in mind:

1. Persevere against this long string of injuries that have been holding me down since last June.
2. To get that Boston Qualifying time that is so overdue on my list of goal.
3. The top reason being to push my own standard in marathoning to a higher level, so that I have to work twice as hard for a personal best time when I attempt another marathon after taking a sabbatical from the distance to work on starting a family. 

With these goals in mind, I am approaching running with a positive attitude. I managed to work up to 16 miles before I had to back off, I was running 8:30 min/miles comfortably during long runs, therefore these past few days that I have had to back off should be recovered easily....right? After all 4 months ago I was still limping through 12 minute miles due to a weird hip problem, and I've come a long way since!

I am lucky to have my amazing husband around to coach me during those brief moments that my positive outlook is broken. Today was one of these days. Today, was track date night...my husband wanted to check out the track workout that some of our friends take part in Monday nights. I went along with him, but even the one mile jog to the track was pretty uncomfortable, so while my husband ran laps with the group, I did push-ups and dips and pull-ups. There was a moment when I wanted to just say "forget it all", it's super hard for me to answer people when they ask what is wrong, why I'm not running, because I feel like I'm always saying the same thing.

What got me back on track to my list of goals was a statement my husband kept making when he told me he wanted to go to track, "I'm trying to better myself, I'm trying to better myself!" In the end that is the main goal I have always had: to better myself, while doing something I love. So I will enjoy everything that running has brought me from the comradery of my running companions (from HS, college, SCRR of Walnut, Pacers, and of course my IERC), to the excitement of competition, and even the obstacles it continues to present me with, because they are all there to better myself. Yet, I'm not giving up on those OC marathon goals, I still have 88 days and "8" is my lucky number!