Separation Anxiety

It's nice to not be in training this summer. For the last three summers I've trained for the Twin Cities Marathon and it really took up my summertime. On Saturdays, I would get up ridiculously early to run long, then come home and sleep the rest of the day. And on weekday evenings, when the weather was hot and steamy, I'd run hills and do track workouts. I'd run in rain and once even during a tornado (of course, I didn't actually see the tornado, but the sirens were going off and the wind was blowing pretty hard.)

My husband and I are planning to move to another state, and this will be my last summer in Minneapolis. That's why I didn't want to train for the TCM--I wanted to enjoy my last summer here. Summer is my favorite season, even with 90 degree weather. In June and July I worked to get the house market-ready, by repairing small items and cleaning. But mostly I had to remove the detritus of fifteen years. You can accumulate a lot of stuff when you don't move around.

The house is now on the market and there's a big "For Sale" sign blemishing the front yard. I'm excited about my new home, but it's hard to detach from the place I've called home all these years. Life there will be very different than what I've grown accustomed to. I currently live a mile from downtown and all sorts of conveniences--coffee shops, restaurants, theatre--are just a few minutes away. My new home will be on a subdivided ranch and the nearest city will be an hour's drive.

I never expected to feel sad about leaving Minneapolis. We moved here for my husband's job. I was quite happy where I was--I lived in the coolest house and the Pacific Ocean was in my back yard. I cried all the way to the state line when I left. But fifteen years is the longest I've ever lived in one house, even from when I was a kid, and with the various remodeling projects over the years, it reflects me. However, once you put your house on the market, it's no longer your home. You're just a temporary occupant and you'd better not get too comfortable. It's difficult to detach.

It's not just the house though, it's the community. I know a lot of people and they know me, at least superficially. Today I ran along the lakes with the running group, and a local radio station was staffing a booth for people training for the TCM. They had water, Power-ade, and Clif-shots. Because of that, there were a lot of runners out, not just LTF, but other running clubs as well.

After my run, I was hanging out at the water stop and I saw a woman approaching. Her body looked familiar and I asked if she was "Martha." It was her. Last summer I ran a half-marathon and for a little while I was drafting behind this woman, using her as a pacer. I'm a heavy-footed runner and breathe loudly, so she heard me and turned around. I told her what I was doing and we chatted for a little bit, until she took a walking break. I saw her again at the Twin Cities Marathon and she was walking backwards. She explained that it helped reduce fatigue, so I tried it. I don't know if it worked, but I finished the race so what the hey. In both races she had her name on her shirt, which is how I knew her name.

Martha remembered me and gave me her e-mail address. She's a coordinator with another running group and told me she'd let me know when Dick Beardsley is going to address the group. I'm looking forward to that.

Since I'm still recovering from Grandma's Marathon, I've just been taking it easy. The other day I ran through downtown and took pictures all along the way. Talk about taking it easy; it took me an hour to run three miles! I'll post the pictures another time, but it made me realize how many things I like about living here.