Why oh Why?

That interrogative has been thrown at me often this week. It’s not as if all of a sudden last week I decided upon 50 miles. It’s been percolating in the brain for over a year now, and in March both Conrad and I made a commitment to ourselves and each other that we would tackle this beast of a distance, together, in 2010 @ the JFK. We read up, watched videos, talked about it with friends and family, and when the entry window opened kissed our envelopes and sent them off. I suppose because I wrote about the confirmation letter people began to believe in this thing actually happening and started asking questions. My first answer is why not… I love endurance training, I love testing the limits of the human body, I love finding out new things about my own mental, emotional and physical toughness - so 50 miles just makes sense in a way 26.2 made sense when my longest distance had been 13.1. But there’s of course more of a story to the 50 mile quest than just why not…

Tenacity and athleticism run in my family. Growing up with your Dad as a successful professional athlete can somewhat skew the curve as to what one thinks is normal in sports and life. I was a good athlete with decent speed but nothing super special. I was afraid of failing in sports so strongly that I gravitated towards theatre and academics. By the end of high school I had given up on organized sports entirely and much preferred to watch my talented brothers play their respective games in baseball and soccer. I stayed fit on my own but became nothing more than a spectator in that world. Then my younger brother graduated from college; feeling post soccer career blues he threw himself into training for a marathon. The Jorgensen domino effect began. Next went my older brother Brian, and then my parent’s began training for a half marathon….

At this point that I couldn’t keep myself out of the game any longer. If my parents, in their late 50’s at the time, could muster up the energy, the courage and the umph it took to train for and participate in an endurance event, there was no reason I couldn’t do the same. So I began, in earnest, to run. It took me a while to get the hang of it, finding the right gears for longer runs, understanding the fueling needs in endurance, but eventually I got pretty good at it, winning some races, consistently coming in the top, gaining confidence and speed with each passing month. However, I still hadn’t made the jump to 26.2. And then I was diagnosed with a genetic hiccup that gave me almost certain odds for breast and ovarian cancer. I reeled over the news. I got frustrated about knowing this handicap. Running helped calm me, center me and give me the courage and confidence to make a very hard and ultimately life saving decision.

3 days before I went in for surgery to have a double mastectomy & reconstruction, I ran my first marathon. I was sick with a fever, my brain was all nerves and exhaustion, I hit the wall harder than I could have possibly imagined at mile 17, but I finished the race, tears welling in the eyes, Conrad’s hand in mine, and I couldn’t wait to start training for my next one. That first marathon and it’s training and focus got me through one of the most overwhelming and difficult times in my life. I walked into surgery, fitter than I had ever been,determined to recover quickly so I could get back to this wonderful thing called running.

And now it’s time for another major life decision. It’s time for another major surgery in December. I can’t think of a better way to bow tie these last 6 years than to do something I’ve never before attempted - to push my mind and my body. In essence I run because I can. I run because it feels good. I run because my mom, my inspiration, smiles when she watches me. She’s proud of my perserverance, my talent, my desire to get better, be stronger, learn more. Her illness and my hiccup crashing into our lives are what brought running to me. And while I truly wish she did not have to suffer, to worry, to hurt - I do this in honor of her. In my endurance training and racing, I suffer, hurt, worry that I will not find the finish line, in the end conquering these distance goals, taking her with me every time.

Miles Run 60 +1.5 hours resistance +1 hour yoga