Keep chasing the things in your heart, even in the midst of disappointment and uncertainty.” Sara Hall, second place finisher at London Marathon this year.

Between the pandemic, uncertainty, and California’s devastating fires, our marathon training and the completion of London virtual marathon in San Francisco felt like an incessant fight with the same windmills that Don Quixote fought, and yet never lost hope of changing the world. We had to be creative and flexible about getting our long runs done during our training due to summer heat, but especially the fires and the bad air quality.

10 LIFE LESSONS LEARNED WHILE TRAINING FOR LONDON MARATHON

1. ADAPTATION – Dr. Dennis Godby with Sacramento Naturopathic Medical Center, said about me that I am “AIR,” which stands for adaptation, inspiration, and resilience. Dr. Godby is my naturopath doctor and an amazing human being. Talking about adaptation, we all know that being adaptable is a key survival quality that not only keeps us alive and well, but it also enhances our flexibility and turns us into nimble gymnasts, so to speak, who can tackle life’s challenges with more ease and comfort. For Bryn and I, training meant weekly changes and adaptations to our running schedule, routes, and workouts. We ended up doing many of our long runs in the middle of the week because of the fires.

2. INSPIRATION can work on many levels when someone dedicates time and attention to achieving a goal. Bryn and I documented our weekly runs and journey on social media, and, according to our coach and Arete team mates, we together with other team mates training for Boston marathon and other virtual races, became inspiring to our Arete competitive running team. We also inspired our children, our families, and co-workers due to our devotion to running and exercising.

3. RESILIENCE did not only apply to practicing grit, but it mainly meant rolling out with all life’s punches that came to us on a weekly basis up to the last day before running London virtual marathon, when mother nature gave us a weekend of smoke from the fires raging through Napa Valley. That’s when Bryn had the great idea to move our marathon to San Francisco, where the air index quality was at healthy levels.

After a smooth 1.5 hour drive drive to San Francisco, we reached Golden Gate Park. We easily found parking and bathrooms. We took a quick picture with our bibs on at the start line, and then we were off. During the first mile of our marathon Bryn said: “I could see a bright spot in the sky and thought the fog might burn off quickly, but was happy to have it for as long it would last. After a summer of training in the harsh Sacramento sun with early morning runs during which we raced against the rising temperatures, being enveloped in a blanket of cool fog with steady temps was soothing.”

In the first few miles, we were reminded of the hidden treasures in Golden Gate Park – the Conservatory of Flowers, Rainbow Falls, Spreckels Lake, the Bison Paddock, and the Dutch Windmill with a lovely “HOPE” flower display. After about five miles of smooth and controlled running, we hit Ocean Beach, ran up past the Cliff House and Sutro Baths and onto the rocky cliffs of the Coastal Trail. We then dipped back onto the roads past the Legion of Honor and Sea Cliff mansions to rejoin the trail in the Presidio.

“Running in the fog felt like home.” Bryn Mumma

After we ran across the Golden Gate bridge twice, we had finished the first half of our marathon, but the hills kept coming, as we hit the stairs in reverse. By now there were many people on the trails, most of them wearing masks. I had slowed down by more than a minute per mile, but I kept moving forward, while Bryn navigated the hills with agility and looked like she was ready to run an ultramarathon, not just a marathon.

“Running on a soft trail, overlooking the bluffs, up and down the hills, with the scent of eucalyptus in the air, was heaven.” Bryn Mumma

Returning to Golden Gate Park for our final few miles, we noticed that the park had come alive with children and families. We passed playgrounds and picnickers, as well as Stow Lake and the Botanical Gardens before reaching our 26.2-mile finish.

Throughout our marathon, Bryn couldn’t help but feeling like running in the fog was like coming home, because it was where her now-husband and her got engaged and married, while they both finished their studies to become doctors. Much of time in San Francisco was spent in the Sunset, running through Golden Gate Park to Ocean Beach.

For me, the highlight of the marathon were the windmills and the Pacific Ocean that made our extremely beautiful, scenic, but hard San Francisco marathon course with 1,730 feet elevation an adventure to remember. Bryn seemed to glide on all the hills, whereas I struggled with knee and calf pain, but continued my run and finished my 11th marathon, relishing the fog, the ocean waves crashing onto the shore, the Dutch Windmill, running across Golden Gate Bridge twice, the sight of a beautiful heron at the end of the race, and the wonderful time spent with my friend Bryn, who ran this marathon with ease and indelible joy.

Bryn finished the marathon ahead of me, as I struggled with pain from all the hills and possibly my thyroid acting up, but I mixed running with walking at the end and got it done. As I finished, I thought about our celebration picture, which, of course, was with the Dutch Windmill.

I fought hard and ran my slowest marathon since I became a runner, but had defeated the windmills and have learned valuable lessons about life, such as:

4. POSITIVITY – Bryn and I tried to find a positive in every negative.

5. PERSEVERANCE – We constantly found ways to push each other on the track, or during a long run, and never gave up.

6. CREATIVITY – We had to constantly find ways around the pandemic, the weather, our busy schedules, and I even composed a rap song for our marathon.

7. DEDICATION – Without dedication, we can’t achieve much in life. Every single week, Bryn and I communicated with each other. We both set time aside for our speed workouts and long runs, which we did together and thus made our marathon cycle feel easier than usual, more enjoyable, and fun.

8. MOTIVATION – Once I convinced Bryn to do the London virtual marathon with me, both our motivation has increased, as we stayed focused and kept each other accountable.

9. FLEXIBILITY – With Bryn being an emergency physician and myself the CEO of my Dynamic Real Estate company, we both had a little more flexibility in our schedules, which proved to be quintessential to our successful and fun training schedule that I created for us mixing most of the workouts that Mary, our team’s coach provided part of the Chicago marathon training, with some of my own training, including weekly rest and strength training.

10. ENTHUSIASM –Ralph Waldo Emerson said: “Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm,” and Bryn and I had plenty of it. Chasing each other on the track was the highlight of our training, which made us run faster and stronger.

With races being canceled all around the world, now, more than ever, we have goals of becoming better human beings, helping others, lifting each other up, and just striving to be the best version of ourselves. Running goals are important, such as PRs, but the most important PR is what I call in my poetry book the pace and rhythm of life, which means being entuned with life, living in the now, and being grateful for every breath and stride we take on the trails of life.

For more inspiration on how to let “AIR,” which stands for adaptation, inspiration, and resilience guide and uplift you during these uncertain and crazy times, please consider buying my print edition or e-book The PR- The Poetics of Running, A Book of Poetry in Motion on Amazon, by clicking on the link. A portion of the proceeds from the sale of the book is going to Girls on the Run Sacramento chapter organization.