No apologies!

I am having a blast with my half-marathon training. Is it hard? Am I feeling pain? Hell yes and hell yes. But I am done apologizing for the fun that I am having. I refuse to accept that there is no fun in improvement. I refuse to accept that if you can talk you aren't working hard enough. I refuse to accept that if you are smiling and having a jolly good time then you just aren't doing what you should be or that you could work harder. That is simply not true.

See, I've been down the other path. The path of tears, pain and loneliness. I've pushed so hard that I've taken myself out of the game. I've run the silent miles where the minutes just tick away. That didn't work out for me. So this time, much like my favorite 90210 girl Kelly Taylor, I choose me. I choose fun over speed. I chose laughter over silence. I chose irreverence and sarcasm, over decreased minutes running. As it is the time flies by and I don't think I'd want less time having this much fun! I am 42 years old with a bad knee running on borrowed time. I'm going to make the most of the time I have left in the running community and I'm going to have fun with it.

No more will "I'm sorry" escape from my mouth. I will not apologize for the life I have lead that has placed me where I am. I am in the middle to the back of the pack. If you must know, it's the damn finest place to be. We have fun back here. Will we win any races from this vantage point? Hell no, but I could push myself to the breaking point and maybe shave of 30 seconds or more, but would it put me in a better place? Hell no? I'm never going to win so I may as well have a rocking good time. And the truth of the matter is the view is pretty damn fine from here. I'm proud of where I'm at. Truth be told I never thought I'd make it this far.

And so I announce to the world that I will make no more apologies for where I am. I accept it, I embrace it, and quite frankly at this stage of the game I can think of no where else I'd rather be.