Small victories

Today I swung by Varsity Sports to buy my gels for the marathon. I'll have to carry all my gels because the only fuel on the course is Shot Bloks at mile 18, both too late and too hard to eat at that point in the race.
So I grabbed some Gu, and then I saw that close-to-outdated Huma gels were on sale, so I grabbed some of them, too. "Might as well stock up for winter running," I thought.

And then I realized what a victory that was. For years, my little bowl of gels stood nearly empty, one or two dusty hammer gels at the bottom. I was too injured or too deep in recovery to stock up on gels. The very thought that I will, at some point, need ten gels is cause for celebration! I'm well enough now that I have no doubt that this marathon will not be my last. I sometimes forget that I had two major hip surgeries. The myrtles and hip exercises are second nature now (and honestly, shouldn't we all be doing them, anyway?) and the almost complete lack of pain allows it to slip my mind. In fact, I can't remember the last time my hip really bothered me when running. I definitely felt the left side last week, but that was while painting my nails. I stretch out on the floor, basically in a toe-touch stretch, and staying that way for five or ten minutes makes it pinch. But ten mile tempos? Nothing. I feel like pre-injury me (except slower. Bah!).

I'm so glad that something as simple as buying extra Gu is possible now. It makes me feel better about spending $12 on eleven ounces of sugar and water.