The Long Run

This week has been full of ups and downs. I don't know if terrible is the right word, but it definitely wasn't a good week either. Sunday I ran my seventh marathon. I can safely say that there was absolutely no training involved. For those who have never ran a marathon before, it is possibly one of the most stupid decisions you can ever make. But, when you finish it will be one of the proudest moments of your life. This race was not one of the proudest moments of my life by a long shot, especially in comparison to former races. 


Race highlights: 

• Mile 3 I start thinking I'm going to die and my knee already hurts 
• Mile 8 a bunch of monks with guitars are providing race music
• Mile 13 I realize I'm halfway there and already feel like someone hit me with a bus.
• Mile 14 I contemplate actually stepping in front of a bus.
• Mile 17 I meet some dude from Poznan and we chat and after doing the math I also decide that I'm not going t
  o run anymore because my leg isn't bending anyway.
• Mile 20 I think I could be having a heart attack (someone did back at mile 4, poor man was 34 I found out later that he had died). 
• Mile 22 I meet my future surgery professor and drags my very sore and lazy behind to the finish
• Mile 24 I'm fairly certain I'm going to die.
• Mile 25 If I had any issues praying before, I don't now. 
• Mile 26.2 I decide that sprinting the last 0.2 like I usually do could work, and it did up until my knee pretty much buckled under me --> I hopped on one leg across the finish. 
• In sum worst race ever (worse than my last race in Krakow which was bad enough that I had to sit in the medical tent for about 30minutes afterwards). But, not to bad considering my lack of training and equal lack of optimism. But hey I got a free t-shirt!!!

I finished the race and walked home where I proceeded to throw myself into bed. It was AMAZING, there is nothing like an after marathon nap. 

This really wasn't the bad part of my week, so obviously it got worse. In Pathology I was told by my lab professor to, leave if I didn't find her information useful. I was taking notes and had looked up for a split second in between writing and apparently she thought I had looked at the clock. Heaven forbid I look up and not at her. So she was pretty cold to me all week. Old bat. She kicked one of the students out of lecture later in the week because he was looking up what she was saying in the text book so that he could mark it to read later- yeah, I know I said I liked her before, but she's batty. 

Mr. Peanut Butter

Then, on Wednesday I got a call from my step dad who told me that the family dog Peanut had been killed. Poor guy was five years old. My mom had let him out with the other dog (Jelly --> Peanut Butter and Jelly) to go to the bathroom in the morning, but she hadn't been expecting anyone so she went and grabbed her coffee. While she was gone one of my stepdads employees came up the driveway which is quite steep and he got hit. He died on the way to the vet. My mom was obviously devastated and my sister even more so. I was upset too, but more because he was a good dog and he didn't deserve to go like that. It really made me for the first time in a long time want to be home.

At least I have Copper here to make me feel better, I don't know what I'd do with out him most days. He's always good for a nice laugh or a furry hug. 

Copper hamming it up for the camera

I know life is full of ups and downs, it's kind of like a marathon (excuse the bad simile). When you're running the race you have good miles and bad miles and you never know what's going to happen in the next stretch; you could pull a muscle or run spectacularly. I don't know what tomorrow's going to bring, but no matter how bad things get, eventually I'll find the finish line.     

Peanut (left) and Maggie