Yesterday was a celebration. See, I've been trying to figure out what or if I should go in a race during my next vacation, around Labor day. I'm signed up for 2, but mostly because they are races that sell out. I signed up for a 12 hour race in St Louis long ago. I signed up for a half marathon in Utah very recently. I signed up for the half marathon because it was shorter and I thought I could do it with my sore heel; and the venue was very scenic.
Two weeks ago, I ran 6 miles and it killed me. that coming after spend a huge chunk of money for "treatments." I decided to ignore the doctors and just stop running; practical advice they failed to give. Last weekend, I exercised 11 hours between Friday night and Sunday, with an 18.5 mile walk on Sunday. That walk was far less painful than the 6 mile run had been the week before.
In between the two weekends, Southwest Airlines had a seat sale. But I failed to buy tickets because I couldn't decide where to go, if anywhere. On Monday of this week, I realized that my foot was doing really well, but I couldn't find the seat sale on the Southwest website. I couldn't justify $400 (just the airfare) for a stupid race.
So I waited.
Again on Tuesday, my foot felt really good, even with some jogging. I decided I really wanted to do the 12 hour race in St Louis. This because I wanted to walk 12 hours. There would be camaraderie on the 1.4 mile course. The other master and senior women finishing in 2011 were going at walking speeds. Many of the people just walk 26.2 miles and stop.
I checked the Southwest web page; suddenly I figured out where the special offer was. Prices were reduced. So I quickly got out my Luv voucher and my points and got tickets. Then, I used my Spot points at the Parking Spot so I have free airport parking. Then, I called National car rental and cashed in my miles for a free day on a rental car. I'm paying weekend rate for a Marriott hotel room. So all in all, I'm not paying that much for my 2 day trip to a race. So, no matter how bad I do, its ok financially.
The way all this suddenly seemed right and came together was amazing to me as I had not realized how many points I had to spend. And whatever mental road block I'd been carrying for a couple of weeks was gone.
Here is the place of my next ultra:
This morning, I did 30 min of tempo elliptical and another 20 min jog on the tm. I feel so good and so hopeful about myself. At the same time, I stand in typical human conflict. We all live amidst competing forces: too much food, work demands, fitness, other people, government, finances, the delusion of aging. My life of peace within this continuous hurricane of conflicts is taught to me by the Holy Spirit and A Course in Miracles. In 4 days, I celebrate my 5th year as a course student. When I first started my studies, I thought it would take 5 years to get even a grasp of what it was really saying. This is true.
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