Life and Religion

Going where I've never gone before

16-mile run is a personal best and it feels great

Published Monday, October 19, 2015 5:27 pm

Editor’s note: Post journalist Ashley Mahoney is training for her first marathon on November 14 as part of The Charlotte Post Foundation’s Black Lives Matter Charlotte initiative. In the weeks leading up to race day, we’ll chronicle her training. To register for the Novant Health Thunder Road marathon, half-marathon or 5K with The Charlotte Post Foundation, log on to www.runsignup.com/charlottepostfoundationtrm15.

October 13
Getting up early to run after driving back from the District of Columbia…zzz. Tired. Bless the coffee.

Out of clean socks and sports bras…OK not out, but three pairs left doesn’t suffice. Must do laundry/clean. So tired.

Clean apartment! Clean clothes! Iced and rolled legs! I should really take an ice bath. Gosh darn getting up early to run 8 miles tomorrow. It’ll be well worth it tomorrow evening, but for now BOOOOO! And bed.

Random giant bruise on my leg—where did this thing come from!?!

Distance: 4.01 miles. Time: 37 minutes 37 seconds. Pace: 9 minutes 23 seconds.

Blue shoes: 112.36 miles. Pink Shoes: 64.21 miles.

October 14
Didn’t get up at 6 a.m. to run. Must run post-office hours.

Amazing run! Gosh, I love running on the city greenways/parks, etc.!

Bless endorphins – much better than therapy. Then again I’ve never tried therapy, but running prove cheaper than therapy.

Act. Do not react. Have patience. Remember—everything does not revolve around you. Be kind to others. Listen to them. You don’t know what he or she is going through. If you can’t be a good friend, then walk away.

When you don’t understand what God’s doing, remember that He’s moving in your life and that’s all that matters. I enjoy those long runs when I can feel His presence and just lose myself in that pure moment of worship. P.S. Darling people who like to butt into my faith: Do I butt into your relationships? No. So cork it.

Don’t try to define my relationship with God based on my presence or lack thereof in a building for a few hours on Sunday morning. I know where my relationship stands, and I’m not going to follow this precedent to please you—it goes right up there with my opinion on marriage. Let my actions EVERY day of the week reflect what I believe, not a church denomination or marital status, and for those who like to say I “have an issue with the institution that God created,” I will stay happily single while you waste your life freaking out about needing to be married because you can’t control your sex drive.

Take your misogynistic shortcomings and hop in the next time machine back to the 1950s. No one has time for that nonsense here.

Distance: 8.02 miles. Time: 1 hour 14 minutes 10 seconds. Pace: 9:15.

Blue shoes: 112.36 miles. Pink shoes: 72.23 miles.

Sore throat. Tired. Endorphins—ole!

HOLY CRAP! ONE MONTH UNTIL RACE DAY!

October 15
Beautiful run on the Rail Trail! Not to jinx Saturday’s run, but I didn’t’ feel tired today, or like I was really pushing myself in terms of pace, but my legs and feet ache, and my pace improved from Tuesday and yesterday.

Yay for foam rollers and ice packs, and Epsom salt baths, and fall weather without that horrible humidity.

Distance: 4 miles. Time: 35:49. Pace: 8:57.

Blue shoes: 116.36 miles. Pink shoes: 72.23 miles.

I want more running shoes—all of the colors of the rainbow (gosh I’m weird!) I have blue and pink—now I want purple and orange and green and yellow and any other colors I may have missed.

My laundry consists of socks, shorts, sports bras, t-shirt—it’s like that Soccer Girl Probz video (if you don’t get that reference, go stalk them on YouTube).

Going into an Asics, Nike, Adidas, Under Armor—the list goes on and on—store. Oh I want to buy all the pretty things. Thankfully, I’m an awesome window shopper. I want a closet designated to running apparel. Then again, that’s essentially what my dresser serves as. Oy, I need to go to bed.

October 16
Rest day.

October 17
16 miles to go. I have never gone that far…

I did it. I died. BRING WATER ON NEXT LONG RUN!

Note: Orange Trident gum starts to deteriorate around Mile 9, or was it Mile 7? Either way, pack extra on race day.

Quad section right above knees started aching around the last mile.

Tingly right hand.

Biggest takeaways today:

1. I’m dead.

2. What would happen if you prayed for [not about but for] all the people/things who bug you instead of complaining about them?

October 18
Cross training.

Extensive walking around the Queen City.

Distance: Unknown.

Time: 2-hourish.