When the pain stops

Well, I made it through last weekend. I got the grant application done and I completed the Historic Half Marathon in Fort Langley (see my "Pain is Good" blog entry).

Last year when I ran the Historic Half, I felt so defeated by the hill going up 216th St. in Walnut Grove, my own neighbourhood. Somehow I ran out of energy, and had to walk part way up.

Not so this year! I made it up that hill, running all the way to that point in the race. It almost felt like the race was over - maybe too much so. When I turned the corner onto 88th Ave, I felt compelled to walk for a while, so I did.

There was only something like 4 km left at that point, but alas, I ended up walking a lot of it. And my time was 2 hrs 17 minutes, when last year it had been 2 hrs 3 minutes. Aughhh! What happened???

Oh well, it sure felt good to stop after I ran the last 0.9 km on my "last legs." And this time I had the strength to raise both arms in victory and praise to God!

Likewise, I felt so relieved to have beaten the many hills that might have stopped me from completing the grant proposal in time. Us academics get quite a rush pushing the "send button" when e-mailing off something like that!

Now I am mostly done limping around, I'm looking forward to hitting the streets again for more pain. But it sure feels good to stop for a while!