If We Faint Not

And let us not be weary in well doing; for in due reason we shall reap, if we faint not. Galations 6:9

As long as we are trying our best and giving our all we will be rewarded as long as we don't give up. I didn't give up during the 26.2 mile jaunt in Providence. I knew it would not be my best run due to the slow long distance training for two 50 milers earlier in the year and a 50 miler just 4 weeks ago. Of course, this is what I tell myself. In essence, I need to drop two hands-full of pounds and do some more tempo and lactic threshold training to get the combination of speed and endurance back, if at all possible, now being 48. I will say that a truly run marathon is as close to perfection in running as it is possible. Obviously, speed and endurance are relative to our abilities but when we combine both, to the best of our abilities, where it takes our bodies and mind to our limits and slightly beyond, it is though we transcend ourselves. We leave our mind and bodies behind and let the soul find its spirit. This doesn't happen with every marathon. It is the beauty and challenge of the distance. But when perfection is attained, which I have only experienced a handful of times out of the 32 marathons I have run, we indeed reap.

Providence, for an inaugural marathon, was decent but a little rough around the edges. The course was challenging with its hilly (rolling) terrain, although fair. I didn't faint and felt like I didn't give up. Although not great, I finished in the best time that I could on this day and I really couldn't ask for more. I strive to find my soul and I get closest to it when running - right or wrong.

Morning Glory

After my rant last night I suspect this entry will be a bit more calm. I just got back from a sight-seeing tour of Providence - well sort of. My tour consisted of about a 3.5 mile easy warm-up run prior to tomorrow. Not only does a run like this get your body a bit more in tune for the 26.2 miles tomorrow, but more importantly, it allows some of the extremely negative thoughts bleed from your mind. A run always seems to do that. Many mornings I wake to "what's the use..." but a run always brings me back to life. Without disappointment, it did today. I first ran up to the Rhode Island state capitol. I am usually fascinated by the architecture of such buildings certainly more than what actually occurs inside (see last night's entry.) The buildings look as though they are sculpted, carved or whittled and they are generally old. After running around the state capitol, I followed Dorrance Ave. down through Providence to where the finish of the marathon will be tomorrow - quaint streets and buildings surround the finish along with some streets made of brick. The Providence River runs through the city so I made my way over to the river. I love a series of bridges that cross a river running through a city. There is something calming about them and the water they cross. So off I go over one of the bridges to main street and low and behold found a running store called Rhode Runner - excellent! After taking a picture of the "Old Stone Bank" I finish my loop with a cup of Joe and maple scone from Starbucks. It should be an interesting run tomorrow as the course appears to be a bit hilly or rolling depending on how you look at it. Now the rain appears to be a factor too but I can't argue with what God provides. I just know that a bad day of running is still better than a good day at work.

Why...

(this entry is nothing like my others but some days, you just have to go off!) ...is running 26 or 50 miles so much easier than the effort required yet not recognized in the corporate world? Is it maybe because YOU appreciate the effort that YOU put into training to get YOU to the finish where no one in the corporate world appreciates or notices anything that you do? Why is it that the person who doesn't threaten to quit but works wholeheartedly for the organization in humility is left behind? Someday the lack of respect for the employees in a company will bring a company down and I hope that it is a hard lesson to learn. OK, enough on the corporate rant. I am in Povidence Rhode Island (why is it an island?) waiting to run the Providence Marathon on Sunday. It is my first marathon since December and in some ways looking forward to it although I am more trained for 50 milers (i.e. slow longer distance.) I do know the physcal and mental pain of a marathon or 50 miles is still nothing compared to the strife of corporate america. Of course, I still need some way to give Exon-Mobile their 10 billion dollars in profit and provide the funding for war in the era of bushonomics. Maybe it should be called waronomics or oilonomics. Oil, Mr. Bush and our illustrious members of congress is the battleground of terror. While Hillary and Barack call each other names and fight with golden gloves with mouths that need to be washed out with soap, Mr. McCain sits back in his lazy-boy and watches the blood-bath. They are all the same. There are not two parties. There is one - the Political Party that continues to rip apart the core of America. What does this have to do with anything? Nothing, just a rant that started at 6:15 this morning when I realized that 3 1/2 years of coporate giving has been returned by a corporate shafting. Why is this on a running blog? Because I only have running blogs and I am sitting here pondering the "why run" question again. Why run? Because it is easy and simple and hard all at the same time and you get out of it what you put into it - not true in the coporate world!