The Templeton Blog: A mile in her Shoes

I was recently featured on a very remarkable woman's blog. I feel honored, humbled, and blessed to have someone fascinated by my passion for running. I met her through Heather Cosby (a woman I met at the MIT dorm last year). After Heather sent her my blog, she wanted to know more about me so sent me some interview questions. Here is the post if you would like to read it. I also recommend following both their blogs if you are interested in not only being a rock star of a mother, but cooking healthy meals, all the while continuing to keep up with physical fitness. She is truly an inspiration. She ran the Boston Marathon last year and will be running again this year. I really hope we can meet in person very soon!

The word "inspiration" is such a powerful thing. I recently had a good friend tell me I was an inspiration for all the training I have been doing for the marathon (I have ran 194.5 miles in 9 weeks….Crazy!) I'm here to tell you- it's definitely not all physical…I may even go on to say about 45% of it is physical while 55% is mental. I went on my long jog yesterday and in the beginning, I was not mentally motivated. I was upset that Todd didn't wish me luck or tell me to be careful, I was thinking about a suspected stress fracture forming on my foot, my knees have been bothering me, I was super sore. I've been hard on my body the last few weeks and I definitely feel it. Well, God sure does show up mysteriously sometimes. I was running toward Horn Pond (where I've accumulated quite a few of my 194.5 miles), when I saw this man running with a huge smile on his face, and then he waved real big at me….and then I saw it: his prosthetic leg. He was wearing a Boston Marathon jacket and I TRULY believe he was a victim of the Boston Marathon last year. I just know it. The fact that he was smiling at me while running and waved so big….it was honestly one of those moments where you feel God's presence. I got teary-eyed and told my knees and feet to, "Shut up!" and decided I had no excuses today. That man was the inspiration. I ended up running 15 miles that day…the longest I have ever run.

I have been in the process of typing this blog for a week now and actually got another good run in yesterday: 12 miles. It was the best 12 miles I have ever ran (and the fastest- 1 hour 50 minutes). This week was very hard. I was very sore, a bit "down in the dumps" thinking about the bluebonnets that will be in Texas soon and how I will miss them for the 2nd year (and there will STILL be snow here…until May I'm sure). There was a flyer at church today about a "seasons for our spirit" seminar and it stated that this Boston winter has been the coldest in 30 years. I believe it. I almost quit my run yesterday because it was so cold, but after "toughing up," I felt great. I laughed most of the way thinking about how I waited to train for a marathon until I was living in the north during one of the most brutal winters (after living in Dallas for so long), and how I decided to run one of the most challenging ones that exists. HA! Heartbreak Hill: I've decided if I can get past "Heartbreak Hill," I'm going to shout as loudly as I can: "Heartbreak WHO??? Done and DONE!" lol! We will see if I actually have enough energy after 21 miles and that dreaded hill I keep hearing about. Until then, chin up. I see Dallas is facing a random cold day today (even colder than here!), so I'm in the better place….for today. :)