Of Mileage and Garmins and Christmas Light Runs

I really don't know what I was thinking last week...other than to say, I probably wasn't. I realized partway through the marathon that I never really tapered. I came home and checked and discovered I had logged a whoppin' 48 miles for the week - which means I went into the marathon with 22 miles. I'm kind of surprised about how good I felt.

I'm running Garmin-less this week. I mailed it off for repair on Monday. A few months ago it appeared to be dead, I called customer support and they explained how to reset it. Everything was fine till this past week - it happened again five times in eight days. Running buddy Linda's started out the same way, but hers ended up completely dead, unable to reset. She mailed hers off on Monday too. Apparently there is some kind of hardware problem. I'm not thrilled to be running with out it, but Eric showed me how to log my estimated mileage in the training log, which helped. I ran about four yesterday and the six mile hill run today - everything feels good to go!

We've got some good runs scheduled for the next few weekends - Rob is hosting a Mt. Peak run on Sunday, a 5.5 to 6ish mile run with a 1200 foot gain in the first 1.5 miles. The next Saturday I am planning on a double-hill run from the Y, which will give me 14 miles and 14 good hills, three of which are monsters. The week after that we will be having our annual Kelly's Christmas Light Run. I may have told Kelly's story here before, (and I know Rob did once) but I will share it again. This is the invitation that goes out to all our Y Runners:

Kelly Bisson was one of the founding members of the Y Run Club. She was a single Mom, a dietician at Good Sam, and an avid hiker and runner. She was also a survivor of Hodgkins. Kelly organized our first Christmas Light run - a slow and easy run through the Sunrise development to look at the displays. We had a great time and decided to make it an annual event. Kelly is the reason most of our runs are an hour - she'd say, "If you're gonna go out and run, you're gonna run for an hour!" If she was short of an hour, she'd loop the Y till she hit the mark. She's also the reason we run to the stop sign as we come back to the Y - there was no cutting short the run when you were with Kelly. During the next year, Kelly's cancer came back. She was in chemo and fighting it hard. Kelly was amazing - she wore me out every time we ran together, even in the midst of chemo. She'd say, "Michelle, I'll slow down for you", but her slow was my top speed. She was tough, she was funny and she was inspirational. Kelly picked up a virus right around Thanksgiving and was admitted to the hospital. She slipped into a coma. Members of the Y Run Club spent many hours at the hospital sitting with Kelly, her friends and family. We decided to go ahead with plans for our annual Christmas Light Run that year, beginning with a prayer for Kelly's recovery. Kelly died on January 7th, 2004 at age 39. We decided to have a Christmas Light run every year in honor of Kelly. Even though many of you did not know Kelly, this run gives us an opportunity to celebrate the Christmas season with friends, enjoying an activity that we all love. It is a celebration of life and health. It gives us a chance to remember that life is short and that we should all savor every moment as Kelly did. Please join us to celebrate life and joy and friendship at our annual run.

Kelly's best friend Karen was a founding member of our group too - she lives in Arizona now, and is a founding member of a new club there - the Havasu Hustlers. This year they are also hosting a Kelly's Christmas Light Run - to be held on the same day at the same time. There will be so many runners honoring Kelly's memory that night... If you take a run through winter streets glowing with the lights of Christmas, think about all those you love, your friends, family and fellow runners. Spend a moment in contemplation of the blessings of life, health, family and friendship, and the simple joy we share in running.