Happy 5th Birthday SLG!!!

Now that a bunch of us have committed to running Boston (Dora???) and some numbers have been obtained, there is of course the dire reality that we have to train for this thing and motivation is not at a high right now.
I spent the first week of the New Year unexpectedly in Belgium where they had some of the coldest weather in years with day time highs around 20 degrees fahrenheit. That was not very conducive to running but I did manage to get one 5 miler in.
Got back to New York last Sunday in somewhat of a funk and I let two perfect running days pass. Then on Wednesday, I finally got my behind in gear around 5 p.m. and off I went. It immediately felt right and after about two miles all kinds of good running thoughts entered my head. And all of a sudden it hit me, that 5 years earlier, in very similar circumstances, coming off a disappointing NYC marathon (4:03 doesn't seem so bad right now), I needed to prove to myself that I could do better and I had decided to sign up for for the first "Old Lady Marathon".
I realized it had to be almost 5 years to the day that I went out on a snowy Sunday for a 15 miler. It was 3 p.m. before I left the house, snow was on the ground already and I decided I didn't need water, I would just eat snow to hydrate myself. Let me tell you something. You can't eat enough snow to quench your thirst. I don't remember much about the run except that I didn't see many other runners that day, and it was after 5 p.m and dark when I found myself in the southern end of the park, about a mile away from being done, but unable to run anymore because I was so tired. So I had just started walking when I heard this guy say : "Lief, is that you? How far did you go?" I realized it was Mark who turned around with me and egged me on to jog that last mile home. I was so grateful for his support and in my mind that was the day that the "Support Lief Group" was born.
All that reminiscing resulted in a very easy and satisfying 6 miler last Wednesday and when I got home, I was curious to find out in my running logs what Sunday in January of 2004 this had occurred. So I rumaged through my calenders and found all of the from 1999 to 2008 but of course, 2004 was missing. When I got to my office Thursday morning, I remembered that there was one old calendar sitting in my drawer and sure enough, I found it all the way in the back of my desk. And now comes the beautiful part. I had indeed remembered correctly (something that doesn't happen so often these days). I had gone out for that faitful 15 miler on Sunday, January 18th!!! 5 years later, January 18th is again a Sunday, once again, I am training for a marathon. Once again I am trying to get up the motivation but this time I am surrounded by some good friends to run with. So, although it is not easy to get out in these frigid temperatures, I know I will get it done. To mark the occasion, I invite whoever wants to join for some running this Sunday. I am aiming for 12 miles but you can join for as much or as little as you want. And to put the icing on the cake, after the run, we are off to Erik's place to celebrate the New Year, AND to have a 5th birthday party for SLG
Happy Birthday SLG!!!!!!