Every year, there is at least one week (sometimes several) that I know will be a significant challenge for me, whether due to circumstance or my own tendency to push myself to the breaking point. This week (Sept 12-18, 2011) is shaping up to be one of those weeks.

This week I’m flying out to Cincinnati to give two presentations to my peers on Drupal and content migration. Sunday, I’m running my first half marathon.

I’m nervous, excited, scared.

What motivates you to run?

It was raining when I woke up this morning, but as I drank my coffee I listened, but didn’t hear any thunder, so I decided to go on the local 5K.  I’d been looking forward to it, and I don’t mind running in the rain as long as it’s not pouring.

Either because of the rain or because it was this race’s inaugural, only about 50 people showed up to run, including quite an interesting bunch of women from 9 to 70+.  The starting line was funny, everyone kept moving to the back until the starting line had retreated several yards back and they had to encourage us to actually move forward.  I ran this with sister graduates of the local shoe store’s walk-to-run program – about 10 of us showed, including 3-4 who had never run a 5K before and a perky 10 year old girl who smoked nearly everyone.  Apparently the race itself was almost all women; when the awards were handed out the announcer said fewer than 10 men had run the race.

I was happy to run this one, it was a nice, flat course along the river and a cool morning, an enjoyable temperature change from the high heat we’ve been having.  For the first two miles I paced myself with a group of other women who were pushing a bit harder than I usually go but I figured I could always slow down later.  Later, they pulled ahead and I decided to slow a bit and enjoy myself.  Several snowy egrets fished in the river along our course, and a group of Canadian geese hung out on the sidelines.  The trees were glittering and the air smelled wet and earthy.  I’m so thankful to live in such a beautiful, wooded area with river trails and wildlife.

While I was running that last mile I was letting my mind wander and remembered something from the movie our family had watched the night before: in Percy Jackson and the Olympians there’s a moment when Percy is getting his butt kicked by a girl warrior in capture the flag, and his inner voice (really his father) says “go to the water – the water will give you strength”.  I laughed, but realized that for me (maybe because I’m a water sign? who knows) running near water does make me more relaxed, and being relaxed makes it easier to run a bit harder and also makes the run a bit more enjoyable.  Weird, huh?

As I neared the home stretch I realized that 3 miles goes by pretty quick, and almost felt a little sad when I saw that there wasn’t much race left.  (That should motivate me to do a 10K, right?)  I picked up tempo and finished at 32:07 (10:20 pace), which is fantastic for me these days.

Last week I starting increasing my running time to running 45 minutes, and it felt good as long as I kept to a relaxed pace.  So, maybe that 10K isn’t so far away.  As long as I keep to the river, or whatever is helping to push me along.