{"id":298,"date":"2013-05-10T04:57:34","date_gmt":"2013-05-10T04:57:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/?p=298"},"modified":"2013-07-18T19:40:27","modified_gmt":"2013-07-18T19:40:27","slug":"me-and-steve-and-steves-mom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/?p=298","title":{"rendered":"Me and Steve and Steve’s Mom"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last weekend I spent 3 days basking in the glorious beauty of Vancouver, British Columbia with Steve and his mom, Dee. \u00a0It\u2019s really too bad that Steve and I can\u2019t get married because I can\u2019t imagine a more perfect mother-in-law than Dee.\u00a0 But given the circumstances, Steve will continue to be the main man in my life as my training buddy, my movie partner, and the Will to my Grace; and at least I get to be an honorary member of the Carrell family.\u00a0 I really wouldn\u2019t have it any other way.\u00a0 We went to Capilano to cross the giant suspension bridge and play among the treetops of the rain forest.\u00a0 We sat outside on the\u00a0patio to have dinner at Water St. Caf\u00e9, overlooking the old Steam clock in Gastown.\u00a0 We went up to the observation deck of the sightseeing tower and made a friend named Carl from Toronto.\u00a0 We took the water taxi across the harbor to Granville Island for a tour of the market, some gelato and enjoyed the view while listening to live music.\u00a0 We ate a variety of cuisines, including Japanese, Italian, Thai and Freshii burritos.\u00a0 We briefly considered trying the Japadog street vendor, but ultimately decided better of it.\u00a0We talked about taking a seaplane to Saskatchewan. (Or I did anyway, just because that\u2019s fun to say.\u00a0 Go on, say it.\u00a0 It\u2019s fun, right?) \u00a0We had absolutely perfect weather for our travels.\u00a0 Not once did I have to pull out the umbrella I had tucked into my suitcase.<\/p>\n

Oh, and I happened to run a marathon while we were there.\u00a0 Every marathon has a story.\u00a0 Vancouver 2013 was certainly no exception.<\/p>\n

Frequently in life, you have to take the image that you\u2019ve conjured up in your mind of how things are \u201csupposed to be\u201d and chuck it right out the window.\u00a0 Once you do that, you are finally free to enjoy life.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t get married thinking, \u201cWow, maybe one day I\u2019ll end up a divorced, single mom.\u00a0 Won\u2019t that be great?!\u201d\u00a0 Likewise, I didn\u2019t go out to Vancouver last Friday thinking I wouldn\u2019t BQ, PR, cross the finish line, whatever.\u00a0 I had specific ideas of how that race was supposed to go.\u00a0 But sometimes we have to come to the realization that Plan A isn\u2019t working out.\u00a0 So we skip to Plan B.\u00a0 And eventually we end up on Plan Q.\u00a0 But when we accept that maybe that was the best plan all along, things tend to go a little smoother.<\/p>\n

Steve got to see me at the beginning of the Vancouver marathon,\u00a0as he generously volunteered to escort me to the start to act as cheerleader, photographer, gear gatherer and just general brains of the operation since mine was preoccupied.\u00a0 Steve can now tell you a little known fact about Lindsey\u2026the only time I actually stop talking is when I\u2019m nervous.\u00a0 Sunday morning, I was nervous.\u00a0 I was scared of the unknown.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t know if the race would go the way I wanted it too.\u00a0 I was prepared for it to be hard, and I knew it was going to hurt, but I didn\u2019t know how much.\u00a0\u00a0 But sometimes we just have to take that leap of faith down the path in front of us, and adapt to the twists, turns, hills and hurts as we go along, rather than having an expectation of how it \u201cshould\u201d be.<\/p>\n

The Vancouver marathon course was ultimately not the place for me to accomplish all the running goals that I\u2019ve set for myself.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t hit the numbers I wanted to. \u00a0That was, without question, the hardest full marathon course I have ever encountered.\u00a0 My St. Louis friends will understand what I mean when I say that Vancouver was like Baja on steroids.\u00a0 And I did it on a record hot day in Canada.\u00a0 I believe the high spiked to 80+ degrees on Sunday, which was especially weird since our flight out of Minneapolis was delayed on Friday due to de-icing during a blizzard.\u00a0 I\u2019ve come to the conclusion that Canada hates me.\u00a0 At least as far as marathon weather is concerned.\u00a0 As I\u2019ve mentioned in the past, Quebec + Hurricane Irene = cancelled race; Vancouver + Heat wave = time killer.\u00a0 It seems I can\u2019t catch a break.\u00a0 But as I\u2019ve already come to learn with running, you can\u2019t do anything about the weather, you just have to suck it up.\u00a0 And remember to be smart.\u00a0 Which is exactly what I did.<\/p>\n

And by being smart, I don\u2019t just mean paying attention to pace and not going out to fast\u2026which I kind of did anyway despite my best efforts not to. \u00a0I also don\u2019t mean the fact that I paid very close attention to staying hydrated and cooling off however I could.\u00a0 Special thanks to the two guys in their yards with the garden hoses going and the girl with the spray bottle somewhere between mile 21 and mile 25.\u00a0 That part of the race is a little hazy.<\/p>\n

Being smart partly meant drawing energy from all the other runners in my life.\u00a0 When a girl with an amazing voice sang the Canadian national anthem, I thought of Marxkors singing her own rendition to honor me in her bathroom at 5:30 in the morning.\u00a0 As I weaved through the streets of Vancouver, I could hear Ken\u2019s voice telling me, \u201cRun the tangents, Girl\u201d.\u00a0 Every time I pulled a Gu out of my spybelt I thought of Faith as I read the labels she had printed up for me, that read things like, \u201cWhat doesn\u2019t kill you makes you stronger\u201d and \u201cI can do all things through Christ who gives me strength\u201d.\u00a0 When I saw a girl in my same red Riders, I thought of Nicole finishing up her marathon in Cincinnati.\u00a0 When Nicky Minaj\u2019s Starships came on my ipod, I thought of my Fleet Feet girrrrlz\u2026Liz, Jess, Faith, Katrina.\u00a0 When I wanted nothing more than to quit running all together and walk it out, I heard Jake saying \u201cJust keep putting one foot in front of the other\u201d.\u00a0 \u00a0I also realized when I tried to smile in order to numb the pain, that Jake is totally full of crap.\u00a0 Which I probably should have known already anyway.\u00a0 Of course, that thought made me laugh, which at least distracted me from the pain for a second or two.<\/p>\n

As a random side note, other highlights of the race included the 80 year old Asian dude with the sign that read, \u201cYou\u2019ve got Stamina.\u00a0 Call me\u2026maybe?\u201d\u00a0 Awesome.\u00a0 Seeing Steve and Dee around mile 19, after I crossed the Burrard St. Bridge.\u00a0 I traded my empty (and disgustingly sweaty) spybelt for a pack of Sports Beans.\u00a0 (Note to self:\u00a0 tucking a pack of sports beans into your sports bra for 6 miles is a really bad idea) And at Mile 22 when I hollered at a guy who was wearing a Fleet Feet St. Louis shirt while pointing to the matching logo on my own pink singlet as I passed him.\u00a0 Did I really see him in Canada?\u00a0 It was entirely possible that I was hallucinating, but I think he was wearing a visor.<\/p>\n

However, this time, being smart mostly had to do with appreciating the opportunity I was given to run in Vancouver and soaking up everything about that experience.\u00a0 After a very tough climb over Kilometers 10, 11 and 12, with an oddly misplaced water station nestled halfway up, I eventually crested the top of a hill (a really, really big hill) to reveal what was quite possibly the most spectacular scene I have ever been privy to in any marathon.\u00a0 A breathtaking panoramic view of the snow-capped mountains, the bay below and a solitary flag donning the signature red maple leaf flapping in the breeze among a throng of evergreens.\u00a0 If there is one moment from that race that will remain permanently etched in my memory, I hope it\u2019s that one.\u00a0 Because it was at that precisely that moment that I realized something.\u00a0 Yes, I have goals and I will keep working toward them, Boston not excluded.\u00a0 But while I may not be the fastest or the best runner in the world, there is one thing I am really good at.\u00a0 Being Lindsey. \u00a0I know that I might slow down when I get tired, but I won\u2019t quit.\u00a0 I won\u2019t ever give up.\u00a0 Even when it\u2019s hard, and it hurts, I will keep trudging on into the unknown, putting one foot in front of the other, and get the job done.\u00a0 \u00a0And I will appreciate the beauty surrounding me, even through the struggles and the pain.\u00a0 I don\u2019t want to take anything for granted.\u00a0 Because all of that is what makes me who I am.<\/p>\n

Whether I did it as fast as I wanted to or not, I ran 26.2 miles on Sunday.\u00a0 That\u2019s nothing to scoff at.\u00a0 I ran a really hard course on a really hot day, and I did it in less than 4 hours.\u00a0 That\u2019s faster than any of the 4 times I\u2019ve run the Chicago course, which is completely flat (except for the only hill in the city that they decided to stick in right at the end).\u00a0 There ain\u2019t no shame in what I\u00a0accomplished on Sunday.<\/p>\n

After I crossed the finish line and had a medal placed around my neck, Steve found me staggering down Thurlow Street.\u00a0 I sat down right there in the middle of the street, exhausted and spent, after I declared to him, \u201cYou are never picking the course again!\u201d \u00a0But in seriousness, I told him that even knowing what I know, I would still do it all over again.\u00a0 It was a beautiful course.\u00a0 It was a spectacular weekend.\u00a0One might even say, majestic.\u00a0I was completely overwhelmed by the love and support of my friends, and equally overwhelmed by the sense of peace in my heart while I was in Vancouver.\u00a0\u00a0Steve\u00a0was glad to hear\u00a0this because having never seen me after a marathon, he was a little concerned I would be upset or disappointed in my time.\u00a0 My response to that was, \u201cYou know me, I\u2019m Lindsey.\u00a0 I\u2019m always going to find a reason to smile.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"That's<\/a>

That’s the Burrard St. Bridge I got to run over<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last weekend I spent 3 days basking in the glorious beauty of Vancouver, British Columbia with Steve and his mom, Dee. \u00a0It\u2019s really too bad that Steve and I can\u2019t get married because I can\u2019t imagine a more perfect mother-in-law than Dee.\u00a0 But given the circumstances, Steve will continue to be the main man in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"aside","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,10,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-298","post","type-post","status-publish","format-aside","hentry","category-lessonsfromrunning","category-memorablerunningmoments","category-randomthoughts","post_format-post-format-aside"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4eO4v-4O","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/298","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=298"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/298\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":402,"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/298\/revisions\/402"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=298"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=298"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=298"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}