Some Cool Things I Forgot About

I was being such a cry-baby about my race that I forgot to mention some really cool things I saw during the Mini-Heart Marathon.

One thing that was super cool is that anytime someone from the group saw anyone else from the group, they would cheer them on. There was a lot of opportunity for this since you run the course one way and run it back the other way.

I also thought it was really neat how when the first male and female runners ran by on the way back, everyone on the way up clapped and cheered. Ever since I ran in high school I always thought runners were the nicest atheletes because they recognize things like this, or cheer you on during a race in which they are competing with you. Runners can be extremely unselfish.

But the coolest thing I saw, was this one man who was in front of me. The back of his shirt read: "I've run all" and then had a piece of duct tape on it that said "30". (This was the 30th mini-marathon). That is so cool! I hope that I can have that kind of stamina and that I can keep with running like that!

My Reward System

So I have been rewarding myself for running. I wanted to do something to make me realize how many miles I am actually running, so I decided to put a dollar away for every mile I run. At the end of the week I write myself a check and put it into my savings. This also encourages me to put in ALL of my mileage for the week. At the end of it all I am going to go shopping at Tiffany's. That way, I will always have something to remember my first marathon. It was actually kind of funny because after my race Saturday, when I was feeling down, I said to my husband Bill, "well, that's nine more dollars. Well, nine dollars and thirty cents to be exact." It also makes my long runs more rewarding: 15 miles is 15 more dollars! I haven't started looking for what I want yet. That sounds like a lunchtime activity.

I told a few people in running group about this and they were like "that's a really good idea." My rationale is that you have to reward yourself for doing something that insane to your body!