Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Scrapbooking??

There must be something to this "memory" thing, ha!! I've started my second scrapbook and am really enjoying it.

I've had my pictures printed of all the races I've done. As some of you may know, I did a scrapbook entirely of my first marathon. I started from the very beginning of when I made the decision to do it, got some pics throughout my training, and finally the marathon itself. It was one of the most gratifying things I'd done in a long time. The memories came alive as I relived each moment. This book had a lot of journaling in it which I still love to read over and over again.

Since I had enjoyed that one so much, I got to thinking that I would start a scrapbook on my half marathons. I really love running those races. That distance seems to just "fit" me. Thirteen miles makes me feel strong and healthy and usually leaves me with the feeling that I can do a few more. Though I hope to do another marathon or two, that's really not my forte. Okay...this blog is about stamping and scrapping, so let me get back to it.

I began my scrapbook with my very first half marathon race at Seaside, Florida. A cold front had come in the night before. It was a terrible storm! We were in our camper and the wind was awful. We could hardly sleep. By morning, the storm had passed over and blue skies were above. It was beautiful! BUT...it left temps colder than the city's record with terrible winds. Gusts were so strong. There's no telling what the wind chill factor was. From what I remember, the temp was in the low 30's WITHOUT the wind figured in!! We were freezing while waiting to start...I mean freezing! I remember fussing a couple of weeks prior because of running my longest training run in strong winds. I really got mad that I didn't have "perfect" weather for my longest run. Little did I know that that day probably helped me through the race.

The next half was 11 months later. I was really excited about it. It was the Mardi Gras Half in New Orleans. I knew it was going to be exciting with a ton of people, unlike Seaside. It was going to be a fun race. I was running so well and having the best time. I called Kent to let him know that all was well and better than expected and had decided to increase my speed. I was a little over halfway at that point. Then it happened...I fell!!! I mean fell flat on my face!! I had never been so surprised cause I didn't see it coming. The raised repair-work the City had done on the street had caught my foot and sent me barrelling in the air. Well, I'll spare you all the details. But this race probably had more memories than most.

I look back and wonder why in the world I wanted to do more half marathons. The first one was so cold and windy and the second one I was skinned alive. But I never focused on those things; only that I wanted to do another and another and another. There have been 6 half's to date. There would have been more this year but I fought a terribly bad case of bronchitis which knocked me out of 2 more as well as my first trail race, which was a little longer than half marathon distance.

Since I've printed all of my race photos, I have another book in mind. This one will include all the other races since I've started racing. I wish I had taken photos of Kent when he did his races all these years, but honestly, I did not like runners [as a whole]. They were always nasty and sweaty when they finished and I can't stand to sweat or feel dirty. Well, things have changed because now sweat makes me feel clean; at least, clean until I'm wearing dried sweat...yuk! I know that makes NO sense to non-runners. The general racing scrapbook will include him and me. This is fun and I still have a lot to do today.

Happy Scrapping [yeah, this came from my lips]!!