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So I’ve signed up to run my 3rd Marathon this December, the St. Jude Memphis Marathon.  In addition to logging tons of training miles I am also working to raise $500 for the St. Jude Children’s hospital.  I hope you will help me reach my fundraising goal. Click here to go to my fundraising page! 

Yesterday I ran 13 miles with my new friends from the Dallas Running Club. I got lucky and was placed in the 4:40 pace group, what a great group to run with.  One of the things I’ve come to love about running is how nice and welcoming runners are to other runners.  I’ve only run with this group twice, but I already feel like I belong.  But then when you willing get up at 4:30 a.m. on a Saturday morning to spend anywhere from 2 -4 hours running you don’t necessarily need to go through all the preamble of sizing each other up that you find with other groups.  I’ve found that runners just get each other. 

Excited and ready to run, if only I knew what was waiting for me…

I’ve been running consistently for a little over 4 years now and have completed lots of half marathons and 2 full marathons to date.  My last marathon was the Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon in April, this is a really great race with lots of community support and for a cause that is near and dear to my heart – the Oklahoma City Memorial for the federal building that was bombed.  I was an undergrad at Oklahoma City University when the horrible event occurred, and I can still remember what the bomb sounded like when it went off.  Anyway, this is a very well-organized and supported race and I will run it again.  But back in April running the race was a truly awful, painful, miserable experience.  I’m not sure what went wrong other than I was on the verge of a major life change (moving to Dallas), but it was awful.  I very clearly remember promising myself somewhere around mile 20 that I would NEVER, EVER, EVER RUN A FULL MARATHON AGAIN – EVER.  But I imagine that running marathons is somewhat like childbirth (not that I have or ever will give birth), you forget very quickly how bad it was and your soon itching to give it another go.  And then someone says, I’ve signed up for the St. Jude Memphis Marathon, don’t you want to go too, and the next thing you know you’re signed up for marathon #3, that and I will do anything to put off packing up my house. 

So there you go, I am now in the thick of training.  I spend my time fretting about my training plan and how many miles I need to run and how fast, when should I replace my shoes, how do I manage an hour-long commute with the need to run over an hour in the morning, where’s my Garmin and did I drink enough water today?  Running marathons is not easy for me, I am a mid to back of the pack runner on my best days.  I’ll probably never qualify for Boston and I’d be happy finishing sub 5:00 hr, but there’s something about the training process that I love and that keeps calling me back – never mind the peer pressure.  I love knowing that I am tough enough to get out of bed at 4:30 am on a Saturday and complete a 13 mile training run, when I am facing a truly overwhelming challenge at work or in life it helps to remember that I’ve run 26.2 miles, twice!  I can do anything! Bring it Memphis, I’ll be ready!

Oh and just in case you where wondering, here’s a picture of Eddie Fox, my pride and joy.  I’ll be writing more about my four-legged, bob-tailed son in future posts.  He does not share my love of marathon training…

Aunt JenFox and Eddie hanging on the front porch in Colorado.