As I mentioned in my last post, there was more to this trip than just the marathon. Sonja and I drove to West Virginia and then to North Carolina to place flowers on my Mother’s grave and visit family. So, this is kind of a Part 2. First, I’ll share an update on my marathon recovery.
I have spent the last month recovering from the marathon and probably spending way too much time overanalyzing everything. I worked so hard. My training included speedwork, marathon-paced runs, easy runs, and long runs. And I was recovering well from them. Yes, there were travel and weather issues and all that, but I not only didn’t reach my BQ goal, but I also ran the slowest marathon of my life. My BQ time is 4:35. I CAN do that. I am at a loss for how this marathon went so wrong.
So for the past month, I have been doing easy runs of 4-7 miles. I have felt a little tired during some of these runs, and my legs still feel a bit fatigued, but with each run, I think it’s getting better. I have also returned to strength training, which I was not consistent with during the last marathon training cycle. I know that’s necessary, so I will make an effort to continue doing it.
I still want to reach my goal, so I am not giving up on that. I have reviewed several race options for a BQ and almost decided on the CIM (California International Marathon). That race is in December, and unless I’m training for Boston, I don’t want to train for another marathon during the winter months. It is grueling.
I want to run a marathon closer to home, not one that requires a whole day’s travel. I thought about doing Humpy’s Marathon here in Alaska, but it is in August, less than 20 weeks out and I think that is a little too soon for me. Coach Laura suggested a couple of races just outside of Seattle, so I am leaning more towards one of those. I’ll probably give it a couple more weeks and decide based on how my running is going. For now, I will keep building my base and work on strengthening. Also, I will pay closer attention to what works and what doesn’t, and why.
The Rest of the Trip
Sonja and I left Virginia Beach and headed to Princeton, WV, to visit my mother’s gravesite. It’s about 375 miles. On the way, we stopped to see Teena and Jose. Jose was working, but we had a great time hanging out with Teena for a few hours.
While there, a huge ship was on the York River, which they had an awesome view of from their balcony. The ship was headed in the direction of the bridge, and it was obviously not going to clear it. I asked her if the bridge would open like a drawbridge. I said I remember seeing it open that way one time before, when I was visiting. She assured me that it was not a drawbridge, but a swing bridge. I even went so far as to start looking at pictures on my cell phone, trying to find the evidence, ha. I think the person who lives there and can see this bridge from almost every room in their house knows how the bridge opens and closes. 😂 And as you can see below, the bridge did swing open not rise up.
The top photo was the one I took from her balcony. Underneath that is one that Teena sent me to illustrate how a swing bridge works. Then, below those two photos, is the same ship going through the swing bridge, and the last photo shows the same bridge that the ship went through—the George P. Coleman Memorial Bridge. Anyway, that was fun, and just sitting and chatting with my sister was very nice.
We continued our trip to Princeton and got in late. We met up with my brother Ben and had dinner. My brother Terry and his family were supposed to meet us the next morning at around 11 at the cemetery, and then we would all head to Mooresville, NC, to meet up with David. Terry and his family got a late start out of Morgantown (about a 3.5-hour drive), so we decided to meet in Mooresville later that evening.
While in Princeton, we visited my mother’s gravesite as planned and placed pretty spring flowers in her memorial vase. The area must have experienced a windstorm, as flowers had been blown out of vases and back into the trees. Of course, these are not real because they would not last a day due to the cool weather, but while I was sitting there with Mom, Sonja was gathering flowers that had blown away and was putting them into the empty vases. So sweet of her.
Kathy added more flowers and the flag to our arrangement, which brightened it up even more ❤️
I miss Mom so much, and I think of her every single day! Love you Mom!❤️
We were heading out of Princeton when Sonja spotted a Hobby Lobby. For those who don’t know, Sonja creates beautiful clay jewelry; more information is available on Instagram at @thelittlethings.ak or on her website. There are limited places in Alaska where she can get what she needs, so she went a little crazy at this place. So fun, though.
We finally arrived in Mooresville, and David met us at our hotel. The weather was so nice that we decided to sit outside for a bit. Terry and family eventually made it too. They decided to go to their hotel to get a little rest before dinner. David is a lot of fun to hang out with. He is laid-back and hilarious. He definitely kept us entertained.
We finally met with Terry, Kathy, John, Robert, plus Diana (my other sister-in-law), along with David, for dinner at Julia’s Talley House. This was a place Mom liked to eat at when I was in town. And she always liked to sit in the rocking chairs they had on their porch. ❤️
The seating arrangement in this restaurant made it difficult to chat with everyone during dinner. After dinner, we had time to mingle outside and catch up on how everyone was doing. David and Diana lived in the area, and Terry and his family were heading to see Kathy’s side of the family in Georgia the following day. Sonja and I were leaving early the next morning to return to Alaska. This was a very quick trip with very little time to spend with everyone, but I enjoyed the time we did have. Unfortunately, I did not take any pictures of us all together. What was I thinking? I love my family and miss them so much.
In the meantime, I will continue training. That BQ will happen.
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