Fit to Ride: 26.2 miles, check!

HN fitness guru Biz Stamm just ran the Portland Marathon to raise money for Ever After Mustang Rescue and achieve a personal goal–and she lived to write about it.

From Biz:

Some of my favorite spectator signs from the Portland Marathon:

“Worst parade ever!!!”

“Even Chuck Norris has never run a marathon.”

“Crazy got you here.  Grit will get you home.”

And lastly, my personal favorite:

“Don’t crap your pants.”

I am very proud to say that while running the Portland Marathon, I did not throw up or lose control of my bowels. The first 13 miles were actually the fastest 13 miles I have ever run in my life (my pace was around 9’30’’ per mile which is ridiculously fast for me), and the last five miles might have been the slowest. (Let’s just say that because of those last five miles I’m in need of the Paul Ryan Marathon Time Calculator).

Unfortunately, I was unable to wear my Horse Nation t-shirt because the screen printing company called at the last minute to say that they were out technical t-shirts in my size so they had printed the design on cotton.  For those of you that don’t know, cotton and long distance running = severe chaffing.  I just couldn’t risk it.

Despite those sluggish last five miles, crossing the finish line was one of the coolest and proudest moments in my life.  All I could think was “Holy $h!t! I just ran a freakin’ marathon. I ran 26.2 miles and did not die in the process!”

Aside from making me really proud of myself, these thoughts lead new thoughts like, “If I am capable of running a marathon, what else am I capable of?”  Running a marathon has been a goal of mine for several years.  Now that I’ve done it, I feel that I can achieve many of my other goals as well.  It’s all a matter of setting a goal, and then mapping out the several mini-goals you’ll need reach in the process.

I might be a bit biased because I myself am a horse person, but I feel like as a demographic we are a particularly determined bunch.  This might be because dealing with horses makes dealing with frustration and heartbreak commonplace, or it could be the product of the flat out insanity/stubbornness that comes along with a horse addiction.  Whatever it is, we need to utilize it in order to achieve our goals more often.

What are your goals, Horse Nation?