Random Thoughts on a Long Run

I officially started training for the St. George Marathon today. That means looong Saturday runs, and a looong time to think to myself.

These are a few of my RanDoM thoughts that went through my head on my run today. Someday I might wonder to myself, "What did I do to keep myself occupied on all those long runs?" Well, I had lots of time to think about lots of random things. Therefore, this post.

-I love the mountains. They smell so good. I'm so grateful that we live right by Provo Canyon so I can run there whenever I want. I am going to be so sad when we move away from this canyon.

-Someday I am going to be able to play all the hymns in the hymn book on the piano.

-Good music makes all the difference on long runs.

-What if I dropped my car key that I'm carrying in my hand and I didn't even notice? How would I get home? I would have to call Scott to come get me. But what if Scott didn't answer his phone? I would have to call someone else. And what if I didn't have my cell phone with me? I only have a total of TWO phone numbers memorized! (Scott's and my parent's home phone.) How sad is that? I'm pretty sure that I had at least five times that many phone numbers memorized when I was seven years old. That's the curse of the cell phone. They have handicapped our memories. I don't need to store phone numbers, or practically anything else in my head anymore because my cell phone does it for me. What if I was in an emergency without my cell phone and needed to call someone!? I think I better work on memorizing some phone numbers when I get home! (see what I mean by random thoughts? It's like a chain reaction. Anything to keep your mind off the pains of the run.)

-Someday I'm going to run the Boston Marathon again. I can't wait.

-I'm nervous for the St. George Marathon coming up in just two months. Marathons hurt, but for some reason I can't stop signing up for them.

-I'm excited to finish the St. George marathon. Finishing a marathon is the best feeling. Maybe that's why I keep signing up for them.

-Someday I am going to be a certified physical therapist assistant.

-I can't wait to get home so I can eat some watermelon.

-Is it harder to wake up REALLY early on a Saturday morning, or to wake up kind of early on a Saturday morning but have to finish my run in the heat? That's a tough one. I think I need to get up earlier though. I was jealous of all the runners already on their way down the canyon when I was just starting my run. I can't be a marathon runner unless I'm willing to make the sacrifice of getting up hours before the sun comes up on a Saturday morning.

-I wish that drinking fountain up the canyon with the best tasting water in the world was at the very end of my run so I could guzzle as much of it as I wanted. (If you have ever run up Provo Canyon you probably know which water fountain I'm talking about. It is seriously the best tasting water in the world. Sometimes I bring a water bottle just to fill up at that fountain.)

-Why does the last mile of my run always seem so hard no matter how far I run? Mile 6 on a fifteen mile run is a piece of cake, but mile 6 on a 6 mile run is so hard. I guess that just proves how much of running is ALL IN YOUR HEAD.

-It's so hard to have positive thoughts toward the end of a run, but just think how much better I could run if I could just keep thinking positive. It's harder than it sounds. Trust me.

-I really really want to be done with this run so I can drink that gatorade in my car.

-Just keep going. Just keep going. Just keep going. Almost done. Almost done.

-This is a really long run, but on Oct.3 it's going to be A LOT LONGER. Yikes.

-AH! Yes. I'm finally done. I think that was the fastest I've ever drank an entire bottle of gatorade in my life. I want some more now. I feel good now. Oh yeah, that's why I like to run.