26.2 Miles of Gratitude, Hope and Lunacy

Three years ago on my birthday I was a week away from getting married. Two years ago, I was in Tuscany, Italy sipping vino and eating pizza. Last year, I was in Napa sipping even more wine and gearing up for my second Ironman. This year, I'm hanging with my parents and in-laws in Austin gearing up for hip surgery! Oh, how times have changed :-)What a difference a year makes, eh?

I'm excited and nervous. In one respect, I feel like an injured animal. I want to run away, crawl under a bush and hide from everyone and everything. But, like most injured animals, I still have a little feral fight in me. Before I give up, I want to attack just one more time.

On my birthday run this morning, I decided that my last fight will be a 26.2 mile jog Tuesday morning to celebrate life, health, and new beginnings. Running is what started it all for me, after all. I would give up darn near everything to be able to run pain-free again. Call me overdramatic, but I can't think of a better way to go into surgery than with one last marathon under my belt. If surgery doesn't go well, at least I'll know I ran one last 26.2 jaunt on the life-saving trail of Lady Bird Lake. If all goes as perfectly as expected, I'll have a new time to beat :) (which shouldn't be a problem).

If you're out and about tomorrow morning, join me for a few easy miles. I have no choice but to take it easy. I haven't run more than 15 miles since last July! I'll probably leave my house around 5:30am and head straight to the Lake so that I'm done before it gets too hot. That way, I can spend the rest of the day with my parents prepping my house and my mind for what is about to come.

So, here's to living life to it's fullest and giving the surgeon something to do on Wednesday morning! I want to be able to tell him, "I ran a marathon yesterday! Now, fix my hip, dude, because I've got a lot more of these planned!"