I was a freshman in college when a history professor shared with us, very proudly and with a huge smile on his face, he had just finished running the Boston Marathon. His introduction to that day's lecture lost me for the rest of the class day dreaming of how some day I too would run the prodigious race. Even as a dream back then (for a teenager who was in constant soccer training and who thought a Saturday-10-mile-just for-the-heck-of-it-run was fun) it was not far fetched.
Fast-forward some 20+ years. Last year I decided to make good on that crazy dream and signed up to run a half marathon with only 6 weeks to train. That memorable Sunday in April I finished the race with a time of 1:58+ and my body going on a 4-month strike thanks to my under-training. It was not until October that I finally could run a few miles with out some body part resisting. Lessons learned: "there are not short cuts"!!!!
This past Sunday I ran my second organized race in my life, another half marathon, the Five Points of Life in Gainesville FL and home of the Gator Nation. What a difference the right amount of training does. The first 5 miles where just a wonderful time of people watching, waiving and thanking the spectators for there cheers and support. During these "easy" miles I was just taking some time to pray thankfully and worship Him for the chance just to be there. I was totally surprised that during miles 6 through 9 not only was I continuing to enjoy the race but also I was actually having small chats with some runners. At mile 8 Matt Glidden found me and after taking some pictures ran with me encouraging me and giving me support, "Thanks a lot Matt the pictures turn out great". Miles 10 trough 12 became harder but running trough the University of Florida and especially the stadium made the pain more tolerable. At mile 12 I had been keeping up with a group of runners for about 5 miles and decided it was time to see how much my training was going to pay off..... it did! I had two main goals for this run; numero 1 was to finish under 2 hours and numero 2 to make sure I did not stress my body the same way I did on my first run. Certainly the mission was accomplished! Here are the results of my race:
A special thanks to my trip-buddy and #1 fan this weekend, Mica. I love you.
Fast-forward some 20+ years. Last year I decided to make good on that crazy dream and signed up to run a half marathon with only 6 weeks to train. That memorable Sunday in April I finished the race with a time of 1:58+ and my body going on a 4-month strike thanks to my under-training. It was not until October that I finally could run a few miles with out some body part resisting. Lessons learned: "there are not short cuts"!!!!
This past Sunday I ran my second organized race in my life, another half marathon, the Five Points of Life in Gainesville FL and home of the Gator Nation. What a difference the right amount of training does. The first 5 miles where just a wonderful time of people watching, waiving and thanking the spectators for there cheers and support. During these "easy" miles I was just taking some time to pray thankfully and worship Him for the chance just to be there. I was totally surprised that during miles 6 through 9 not only was I continuing to enjoy the race but also I was actually having small chats with some runners. At mile 8 Matt Glidden found me and after taking some pictures ran with me encouraging me and giving me support, "Thanks a lot Matt the pictures turn out great". Miles 10 trough 12 became harder but running trough the University of Florida and especially the stadium made the pain more tolerable. At mile 12 I had been keeping up with a group of runners for about 5 miles and decided it was time to see how much my training was going to pay off..... it did! I had two main goals for this run; numero 1 was to finish under 2 hours and numero 2 to make sure I did not stress my body the same way I did on my first run. Certainly the mission was accomplished! Here are the results of my race:
Time:1:56:49 Pace:8:54 Bracket Place:18 Overall Place:151 So why did I start this blog with my college memory? Well you see this race is the first benchmark on my journey to some day run that race in Beantown.A special thanks to my trip-buddy and #1 fan this weekend, Mica. I love you.
1 comment:
hi Jorge. that was a great chronicle !!!!! so glad you met your goals and also that you got to see matt.
we love you man !!!!
John Glidden
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