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The night after the marathon, our team (CF and City of Hope) gathered at the hotel bar to commiserate about the race. Limping in with aching limbs, I expected to hear about the great accomplishments of the day. To my surprise, everyone instead shared his or her horror stories about miles 20-24. It was as if every runner hit a wall… a universal feeling of pain and agony (well, not entirely universal, the winning runner finished the marathon in 2 hours and 11 minutes). I also learned that the Honolulu marathon is one of the most difficult races to run. Having heard all of this, I someone, insanely, decided I would run at least one more marathon. I mean, how hard could it be a second time?



Actually, Rebecca informed me that the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation is going to sponsor a marathon in Malibu, CA this coming December (2004). I thought I should show up and run the inaugural event. Plus, you know, I want to really find out if I can perform better by really taking control of those factors I have control of (i.e. diet, medicine) and whether the weather can work in my favor this time (because Malibu won’t be nearly as hot or humid as Hawaii).



Right here and now, I’m setting my goal at 5:35. That’s four minutes off of my Honolulu time. That’s a lot. I better get training!



The rest of our stay in Hawaii was spectacular. We had so much fun we didn’t want to leave. I think it had something to do with facing the reality of our lives. Paradise is just so alluring. It was such a different vacation than anything we’d ever been on. I love being around all of our relatives, but there’s something to be said about not having any obligations (or feelings of guilt for not calling so and so) and just enjoying being a family and being with each other. Still, we had to get back to Los Angeles; Santa Claus was due to arrive soon after we got back.



The holidays have come and gone and I hope to begin running soon. I decided to take the rest of December off just to get through that season rested. I’ve run once since the end of December. I’m anxious to get back into some sort of groove. Soon.

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