Motivation Monday - Runners' Stories

It was a big weekend for friends and family running marathons and half marathons! It's always fun for me to hear about people I know training hard and having that training pay off. I Love hearing about the details that make each race special and unique.

Saturday was the St. George Marathon in Utah and my childhood-best-friend's little sister ran her first ever marathon! I remember Julie as a toddler so it's weird for me to think of her all grown up with a family of her own... let alone running her first marathon. It was fun following her on twitter and facebook and her pictures showed how excited and supportive her family was for her. She ran her first marathon in 5:28:09. Congrats, Julie!

Another friend running St. George was a guy I met through the Gomer Nation. Mark e-mailed me back in March asking for ideas for a training schedule and we kept in touch through e-mail while he trained. Mark ran his 4th marathon in 4:44:22. It wasn't quite the time he was shooting for, but he still finished another marathon and he is already looking back on this as a positive experience. Congrats, Mark!

I heard the weather in St. George was a little warm for a marathon so Julie and Mark should both be extra proud of their accomplishment!

My friend, Erin ran the MO' Cowbell Half Marathon in St. Charles, MO on Sunday. When the Rock 'n' Roll series took over the Lewis and Clark Marathon, they moved the race from St. Charles to downtown St. Louis. The MO' Cowbell gives St. Charles a replacement race for the fall. Erin said the run went really well and she finished 8 minutes ahead of her personal best in 1:47:39! She'll be running the full marathon at the inaugural St. Louis Rock 'n' Roll event in a couple of weeks. Congrats, Erin!

As if that weren't enough for one weekend, my brother-in-law ran his second half marathon on Sunday. Nate ran the San Jose Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon 13 minutes faster than his personal best in 2:08:44! Not only is that an amazing improvement over his first half marathon (only one year ago), but Nate didn't get to train quite as he planned and found out a week before the race that it was on October 2nd, not October 9th. You can read his race report on his blog here. Congrats, Nate!

I have a book called First Marathons: Personal Encounters With the 26.2-Mile Monster. It's nothing but people telling the story of their first marathon and it's incredibly inspiring. There's nothing like crossing that finish line for the first time. But when it's someone you know, it's even more motivating.

A big congratulations to everyone on their races. You should all be proud!

Monday
Goal For The Day: Rest.
Distance: 0.00 Miles.

Notes: I feel better than I expected after yesterday's 20-mile run. Especially since I ran it so late in the day. I should have gone to bed earlier and I'm pretty tired today, but I'm not sore or stiff so that's encouraging! Looking back at the run, I should have had more to drink than just the G1 pouches. I didn't drink any water during the run and I think all of that Gatorade without anything else upset my stomach. Lesson learned.

Daily Miles: 0.00 Miles.
Blog Totals:
  Run - 401.42 Miles.
  Bike - 144.45 Miles.
  Swim - 10,050+ meters.