Training

I am training for the St. Jude Half Marathon in Memphis, TN on December 2, 2023. I am doing the half marathon in honor of Cecil. I have created a Team Cecil, and family and friends are signed up to participate as well, some in the half marathon, some at other distances.

My training called for me to walk 7 miles today. I really did not feel like it. Because I procrastinated, it was nine o'clock when I got started, so closing in on the 101 degrees it would eventually reach today.

I did it. I went to City Park, and I got my miles in. It was harder than I wanted it to be. But, I did it. While I was walking I thought about how many years I have been walking and running in City Park, and how many miles I have walked by myself over the years. All of my books have developed in some way or another as my feet accumulated miles in City Park.

I had to stop running in 2004, because of damage to my left knee from a car accident. Cecil continued to run for at least ten more years after that, so I did a lot of my walking alone. I don't miss him as much when I walk in City Park. I can pretend he will show up at the car at the end of our individual and concurrent workouts.

But more than that, City Park represents continuity. I am still me. Learning how to live life without Cecil, but still Anne Marie, walking in City Park, writing stories in her head. And that is a good thing.