Tag Archives: running

You’ll see these faces again

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Happy 4th of July!

What better way to celebrate than with some photos of our 2012 US Track & Field Olympians? The trials were amazing this year: Ashton Eaton earned a world record in the Decathlon, Julia Lucas broke our hearts with a 4th place finish in the women’s 5000 meters, and Jeneba Tarmoh and Allyson Felix made history of their own with a tie (to the thousandth of a second) in the Women’s 100 meter final. And their story put track & field in the news for longer than it might otherwise have been.

For ten days, we cheered and cried and gasped and applauded and put ponchos on and took them back off as we watched spellbound to see who would represent the United States in this year’s Olympic games. Here are just some of the faces you’ll see again in London.

The women’s 5000 meter final, early in the race

The winners in the women’s steeplechase: Shalaya Kipp (l), Bridget Franek and Emma Coburn. As the stadium announcer said of the incessant rain, “Every hurdle is a water jump today.”

The men’s 200 meter winners. Wallace Spearmon (center) will have a chance at redemption in this year’s Olympics. In the ’08 Olympics, he had begun a victory lap thinking he had medaled, only to have officials disqualify him for stepping over the lane line.

In her final jump, Brittney Reese had to protest the judge’s initial call that she had fouled. The jump was declared legal, and it gave her the win.

Leo Manzano and Andrew Wheating celebrate making the men’s 1500 team. Both are Olympic team repeats.

From left to right, Shannon Rowbury, Morgan Uceny and Jenny Simpson take a victory lap to celebrate making the women’s 1500 team.

Several US Olympians show off the uniforms they’ll be sporting in the games.

We celebrate our independence from England today, but our best athletes are on the bus headed to London, where they hope to take over and bring home the gold.

Our flag flies over Hayward Field. Happy 4th of July!

How are you celebrating the 4th? And which athletes do you most hope will bring home a medal from London?

Spectator sports

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Title IX turned the big 4-0 this past Saturday, and last week, one of my favorite NPR commentators Frank Deford reflected on what Title IX has done for women in sports but also on what it has yet to accomplish: turning women into fans of women’s sports. His commentary is well-worth a listen.

I wanted to get in a huff and tell him he was wrong about women not watching women’s sports (confession time: I talk back to the radio … a lot). But then I thought about the sports I grew up loving: men’s college basketball and college football. Oh, and this thing that happens every four years called the Olympic Games.

Women’s Steeplechase at the 2008 US Olympic Track & Field Trials

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The tortoise and the hare

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“Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.” Hebrews 12:1c

Many of you already know that I completed my first marathon this past Saturday. I didn’t win (I left that for the East Africans), but I felt victorious when I crossed the finish line. And the whole experience has left me with much to be grateful for: family and friends who prayed for my safety during the race and celebrated with me in various ways before I ran and after I finished; my husband who was such a good sport about dealing with other spectators and traffic jams to cheer me on at various points of the race; and most of all, God’s love and protection and grace for enabling me to finish the race well.  Continue reading →

The marathoner’s psalm

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I was out doing a really tough run this morning, not tough because it was the longest run I’ve ever done (that was last week), but because of the warm, humid conditions. While I was running, I kept thinking of something my husband said to me this past weekend. He advised me in his ever-so-gentle-way to find ways to think more positively as I run.

He’s right. Negative thoughts don’t usually creep in during my training runs, although there are hard runs where I don’t feel especially happy afterward. But in tough races, for reasons I don’t understand, a negativity sets up shop in my mind.

Then the grumpiness pours out along with the sweat. And who gets the brunt of that ill temper? My husband. And I’m usually at my grumpiest right when he sweetly comes back from his finish to run back in with me and cheer me to a strong finish. Not at all what he deserves.

So this morning, I tried to use the especially soggy conditions to force myself to think of positives. I found myself grateful for many things along the run: the ability to run at all, the time to run, a shaded path and much more.

Then – because I had a long time still to run – I started thinking of Psalm 23 and ways that it applied to my life as a runner. I started adding new words, and the result became my prayer of gratitude for the morning, a psalm for marathoners that I hope you’ll enjoy reading, whether you run at all or consider yourself an unrepentant couch potato. Maybe it’ll encourage you to take a challenge or negative mindset you’re dealing with and turn it into a psalm of praise: Continue reading →

Elevenses … or why am I always hungry?

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Elevenses: (n) A for a snack or light meal, so named for the time of day, typically including tea or coffee, and cake or biscuits (sources: Dictionary.com and Wikipedia)

A typical elevenses? Don’t worry. I didn’t eat everything pictured here. At least, not yet.

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Do you take an elevenses during your day? And then follow it up with lunch and an afternoon snack and then dinner? More and more these days, I find myself adding in snack times such as elevenses to my day.

You may recall that I’m training for my first marathon, now three and a half weeks away. Two weeks ago, I did my longest run ever: 20 miles. Yes, all at the one time. And, no, nothing was chasing me. Continue reading →