This is not an easy subject to deal with and I am struggling to deal with the fact that Cecil is not going to get better. I think back to February when this photo was taken and he was doing so well. He was alert we had a great few days with him.
They found cancer in his bladder just a few months ago and it appears to be back. He wanted to have surgery to remove it, but the doctors have said at 95 years old and with his current health they would not operate. I know it is the right decision, but still hard to face the fact that the end will be here sooner than I think I was ready for. He has good days and bad days… I just hope there are more good days than bad for him.
With everything going on in the world and life I found I was starting the day in a negative mindset, so after some research I decided to start everyday with a morning meditation followed by some gentle yoga. Typically I would wake up, pick up my phone and start scrolling through instagram followed by turning on the news. So I set a goal of keeping up this practice for 30 days.
After only one week I can already see a difference, so I decided to continue this practice until the end of the year. We will see where I am mentally on January 1st!
I always enjoy reading my past blogs about my marathon, but I have been putting off doing a blog for months now. I know it is something I need to do.
The London marathon was a race I had been looking forward to for years and I was looking forward to the week. Unfortunately it was probably the worse week of my life and I considered not even running. But I knew I would regret it is I didn’t go to the start line.
The night before we had an amazing speaker, the director of the Boston marathon! His story of not being an athlete growing up and running because it was the only sport that they didn’t cut athletes reminded me of growing up. He failed at his first 2 attempts at the marathon, not even finishing, but has gone on to do some amazing things!
I woke up race day to rain. I put on a brave face and headed out. They estimated 1 hour to get to the start line and I gave myself extra time, only to arrive at the start line long enough to drop my stuff at bag check, use the toilet and walk to the start line. It was probably a good thing as the rain was coming down fairly good. The atmosphere at the start line was pretty boring with not much going on and there was no fanfare when you started. In fact I had to ask someone if we were at the start line.
The start line
Once we started I just ran. I didn’t look at my watch, didn’t follow any race plans. I noticed I was running faster than I planned at the check points. I just took the stress of the week out on the course. The course was busy and I spent most of it dodging people in light rain. I got to the last 10k and had a decision to make with regards to time, so I picked up the pace. The rain stopped as I got within a few miles of the finish line. As I ran up to Buckingham Palace I had about 45 seconds to get to the finish line to break 5 hours. I ended up about 20 seconds off.
The finish line was pretty quiet as well. I collected my bag and finisher shirt and walked back to the hotel. A quick shower and diner followed by an early night to bed finished up the day.
It is hard to believe we are just 30 days away from the London Marathon. This is a marathon I have wanted to run for as long as I can remember!
With just a month to go I have a wide range of emotions a bit nervous, very tired, excited and so many more. I am getting close to my last few long runs and can’t wait for the 23rd of April.
I starting a running program with a group called BMT Training and I have been learning so much! This past weekend we had a group run in Winter Park it is so nice to have a change of scene on my runs! Even Richard joined me on my Sunday run (he declined to run 18 miles with me on Saturday).
Next week I have my first 10k race with the group!
This past weekend we made a trip to OSU to watch my grandfather enter the OSU Hall of Fame. It was such a great weekend!
We arrived on Thursday and I got a nice run around campus before an amazing dinner with my aunt and uncle at The State Room.
Friday we explored the campus a bit more and attended the award dinner for Cecil.
On Saturday we had a nice breakfast with family before heading out to a basketball game with Cecil and Francis. I snuck out for a little run on the cross country course (which proved to be a challenge) We finished the day with a lovely dinner in a private room with just my grandparents.
Today I travelled to the other side of Orlando for a group run. It was a beautiful park and the weather was perfect. I got 12-13 miles in before most people were awake!
The Johnsons 