Time is Running Out

The BIG RACE is on Sunday, and time is running out. Running. Get it? Time is running out? Cause I'm going to run that race? Could I be any dorkier? Last weekend I went to R.E.I. and picked out a running outfit. I was so tempted to get a tank/jersey thing with a super-hero looking symbol on the front that would have matched perfectly with my running shoes, but I didn't. Instead I just got a very practical tank and a pair of running shorts. I hate running shorts by the way. They've got those annoying underwear things stitched inside and they're way too short. In high school we had white running shorts that were practically see-through. And with all the rain and cold weather we had, my legs are shark-bait pale. Oh well. I'm ready. I've trained for 6+ months. My legs are ready, my lungs are ready, my outfit is ready. Even if we walk half the race I don't care. All that matters is that I cross the finish line.

I just need to say that I am proud of myself. Or maybe impressed. Or maybe both. After I got back from LA in December I was so down, so depressed, so weak, so sad, so exhausted. But I pushed myself every day. I'm not quite sure how I managed to go from breaking the 30-minute ceiling I had created, to going all the way up to 75. I guess it's good to have a goal, and to have people to push you, and to just be so darn stubborn. Every time it hurt, I was like: Keep going! Push yourself! You have no idea what real pain is, so you just keep running because it's not going to kill you! And it didn't kill me, even though there were days when I thought my legs would fall off, and I swear maybe they actually came a little loose, but I guess they fixed themselves. And it's not just with running. I managed to find my way back into taiko, and there are new, exciting, challenging, and even scary things on that horizon. But I'm so into that now--doing the things that scare me. Like when someone asks, "Hey Kathryn, how about standing up in front of a bunch of people and talking and teaching and stuff?" And inside I'm thinking, no way! but instead I say yes because I know that I really do want to do it, and I can't let being scared keep me from doing cool stuff. So I won't, ok?