The inspiration for my blog

This is the letter I composed and sent to my sister, Kristiann Witherup Herring today, after my 1st official day of training for the BolderBoulder, a 10K race we are signed up for on Memorial Day. David Bailey encouraged me to post this and after a couple of glasses of wine, it seemed like a great idea. Enjoy.

Hi!

Thought I'd let you know I officially started my BolderBoulder training today. I'm confident I'll be able to run at least 4 or 5 of the blocks. I only made it through 3 today before I had to stop. I thought I might have to rest at the end of our cul-de-sac, but I kept pushing it and wouldn't let myself give in. Although you may have some doubts, with my persistent training over the next 2 months, I'm sure I can last an entire 4 or 5 blocks before having to rest.

Also, if wind is a factor like it was today, I'm going to have to wear swim goggles because I couldn't see a damn thing. Eyes kept tearing up. I thought I was prepared with 10 tissues stuffed in my sleeves (no pockets), giving my forearms the lovely silhouette of being the same size as my legs. I was mistaken. They were no match for the constant stream of snot and tears intermingling on my face. The tissues gave out about 2/3 of the way (my total distance today was about 1.5 miles). So on race day, I figure I'm going to need roughly 100 tissues for 6 miles, and I'm not sure where I'm going to stuff them.

Furthermore, apparently my post surgery and post pregnancy body has decided that it is difficult to hold my pee inside while jostling around on the pavement. This was interesting, as this has not really been a problem during my Jillian Michaels workouts, so you can imagine my surprise as I was jogging around our neighborhood and found myself with yet another body fluid to deal with. I wondered how long I could keep going before evidence of this would be visible on my form fitting, booty-hugging yoga pants. My entire stash of used tissues was of no help in my sleeves, and I only briefly entertained the idea of relocating them. Fortunately, the only other people I encountered were headed the opposite direction (perhaps they knew something about the wind?), so I was able to still nod a friendly snot filled and teary faced greeting in their direction without them becoming any wiser to my situation. I will somehow have to resolve this issue before race day.

Ultimately, I made it home in half an hour, so if all goes well with my training, I am on track to finish the race in 2-3 hours. On a positive note, my knees were not a factor in today's run.

I am so glad we signed up to do this race. So far, I love running. I almost felt that runner's rush everyone talks about as I was taking off of our front porch. Can't wait for race day.

Hope you are having a great time in Cancun!

Love,
Laurilyn