Stubborn Little German

There's one word that has been synonymous with describing the Schmidts, the way we describe each other, and the way my husband reminds me that I am one.

Stubborn.

Ok, so maybe I was born this way.

But even I am treading cautiously in this pool because I made a commitment that is now 8 days away and I am struggling with my "I'm gonna do it anyway" attitude and "Really, you might want to sit this one out because you could, you know, die."

A marathon is a distance that needs to be respected. It's that perfect distance that challenges the mind and the body. In the two that I have completed, I have discovered a great place to be mentally, although Vegas challenged me with staying there while I fell completely off my pace bobbing and weaving around half marathoners past what has now been called the dreaded "merge". Yet this "place" while running is somewhat of a place of suspended animation. It's a perfect "living in the moment" zen in which the miles behind you are irrelevant and the miles ahead of you are insignificant. You are not thinking "I need to get this over with." You are completely, 100% where you are in the present, knowing that the time will pass whether you are running, walking, or sitting on a couch somewhere watching some TV show about someone else's interpretation of reality.

In the last week of 2011, I announced to Travis that I had a new goal. I wanted to run a marathon in all 50 states. I have 48 more states to run, with Arizona on the books for next weekend.

I got sick following Vegas, which isn't uncommon because I heard somewhere in the realm of 15 to 20 thousand people got sick after Vegas (many of whom blamed it on the water). I didn't drink much water on the course, but I do think the struggles I had with that race and the rain and cold did factor into my immune system throwing in the towel.

I felt better over Christmas and got on the treadmill on the 29th to do some speedwork. I made it through with a personal best but less than 24 hours later, something was amiss. 48 hours later and I was feeling the strains of another "cold"...this time from the deepest realms of my chest cavity. We stayed in for the New Year. I was in and out of bed the whole weekend, save for one horseback ride and one afternoon of helping Travis hang some fence.

I finally went to the Dr. on Tuesday with a fever and came home with 3-days steroids, codeine cough syrup, a shot of antibiotics and 10-days oral antibiotics. Respiratory infection be damned.

Today is the first day I feel better than the walking dead. And my wheels are turning about next weekend. My boss signed up for the half marathon because of me. Peggy's going to cheerlead. So I am going regardless, but will I run to get that third state 26.2 medal?

I got a fortune cookie the other day, while deep in the throes of respiratory distress. It said:

To be continued...