February 11, 2014 by Darlene

Inspiring

Other runners are always inspiring me.

I never thought that I would inspire someone else.

But I have, I think.

I have been playing Mah Jongg for 5 years. I am the only runner in the group. (There are 8-12 of us… many do play tennis.)

We play on Friday nights. Usually on Saturday, I either have a long run or a race. That means I don’t drink and sometimes I even leave early.

My Mah Jongg friends always pretend to be interested in my running and races. But I know they think I am crazy.

Then last week, Natalie, says during Mah Jongg game: “I think I want to start running.”

Natalie is in the middle in both pictures:

I am thrilled and tell her about No Boundaries and how I started running. I offer to help her train and/or run with her.

at the Freihofer’s in 2008 – my NoBo mentor is on the left

Then on Facebook, there was a post from FleetFeet about signing up for the spring No Boundaries program. So I told Natalie about it.

Look at the email I just got:

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Darlene,

I signed up for FleetFeet yesterday….very excited.

Natalie

I’m excited too.

She starts the program April 7 and her first 5K is June 21. (I’ll keep you posted on her progress.)

So maybe I inspired her.

It will be fun to have another runner in our mah jongg group.

Happy Running! Have you even inspired someone to start running.

July 13, 2008 by Darlene

The Utica Boilermaker

Kind of a let down… I was sick in bed with a migraine and throwing up ALL DAY Saturday (no carb loading for me).

Sunday I was determined to run anyway. I had to get up at the unGodly time of 3 am. It was raining when the bus got to Utica but it stopped by the time the race began.

I felt sick, my headache returned but I gave it a shot and ran the whole thing!!! I knew it was not one of my best races but I am glad I did it.

Boilermaker 5k Run

The Boilermaker Race pretty much focused its attention on the 15K race. There were 12000 doing that one (including the Governor) and only 1800 doing the 5K so not much was happening when we ran. The good part was that we didn’t have to wait in line to get food or fight the crowds.

We waited around for almost 4 hours to leave which was pretty boring. Next time I’d like to drive on my own. I wish I was able to run the 15K. That one seemed to be so much more exciting!

The mentors at Fleet Feet were so proud of us. I am glad I did it. For me, I surprised myself in running a 5k in April and then 3 more since so the Boilkermaker which was supposed to be my first 5K was not. Unfortunately because of how I felf physically, it was not even my best.

I plan to continue running and continue entering 5K races to stay focused. Sept 7 is the Brueggers Bagel run, Oct 4 is the Susan G. Komen and in November there is the Turkey Trot.