whatever it takes

you have to have made the commitment within yourself to do 

whatever it takes 

to get the job done and to try to inspire other people to do it, 

because obviously the first rule is you can't do it by yourself. 

~james cameron

yesterday i met up with my long-run running buddies, jen and kerry, on the zen trail.   when we run together we talk shop, we talk girl stuff, boy stuff, we talk kids,  we talk turkey and sometimes unicorns, we laugh, complain, rejoice, curse, but i'm the only one who spits.  sometimes i just have to.  but i'm a girl and i'll stereotype myself by saying i'm a girl who can't spit like a boy.  running long distances has turned me into a spitter (only when i'm running!).   i'm getting better.  one day i thought i was mastering the art and i spit...landing dead on my sneaker.  my brand-new, first-day-worn sneaker.  gross. 

back on the trail, all the chatting carries us through the many miles.   sometimes we even start to "hallucinate"... jen said this as i pointed out a lion in an old, huge, stately stump.  and it seemed to morph into a bunny as we got closer.   maybe there really is a unicorn amongst the trees and streams. 

my running mates put in their wonderful 10 miles and i continued on to cram for the marathon and finished at a little more than 13 miles.  it was a quiet day on the trail so no one saw the unicorn carrying me that last mile.  then i dragged myself to the car. 

love this wall, so i snapped it.  i saw it through the window on a hike in the garden at montgomery place, ny.

much thanks to aunt jan for these incredibly delicious pumpkin muffins and chocolate chip muffins that she sent home for us from rockland bakery.  they have enabled me to appropriately carb-load four weeks in advance of the big track meet through all the boroughs of new york city.

36 days.

26.2 miles.

whatever it takes.