Stay Golden

I just had the best weekend, guys.

I may not be able to stand up without groaning today and I might not have sleep nearly as much as one should on a weekend, but waking up at 4am to run 13.1 miles in San Francisco yesterday was totally worth it. My beautiful and inspirational BFF, Eva, drove down from Oregon so we could enjoy some Type 2 Fun–a concept coined by Eva that perfectly describes the agony and pure joy that is completing a super challenging task, in this case running for over two hours straight. Type 2 Fun is the sense of pride and warm fuzzies you feel AFTER the fact even though you’re miserable and asking yourself why you’d ever pay money to torture yourself while you’re doing it.

Type 1 Fun is great too, don’t get me wrong. It’s impulsively eating a donut, drinking rose or golden beer on a sunny afternoon, or hugging your best friend when you haven’t seen her in too long. Our weekend was full of Type 1 as well. We explored adorable shops on Piedmont Ave, drank Michelob ULTRA Pure Gold, ate all the things we couldn’t eat during the Whole30 last month (including boba tea, of course #runningonboba), and caught up on every last detail we’ve missed out on by not being able to physically train together.

But Type 2 you gotta work for, and that makes it that much more satisfying. It’s the reason hiking Mt. Whitney was the best thing I’ve ever done even though I wanted to chop my legs off on the way down. It’s the reason I ran a full marathon down in Southern California two Novembers ago even though I’d see the full-ers run past as I finished my 13.1s and thought to myself, “god, I’m so glad I’m finished and not doing another one of these,” every single time. It’s the reason I didn’t eat sugar or bread for all of March, and how I started reading so many books a month.

It’s why I signed up for a Spartan Race in June (AGHHH) and it’s why I always have things like “go sky-diving” and “hike half dome” on my bucket list. I love challenges, and the harder it is, the happier I am after the fact. The San Francisco Rock ‘n Roll half marathon was my seventh half I’ve completed, and still at 6:15am, shivering in the dark waiting for our turn to start, my stomach quivered with nerves and I wondered for the bajillionth time, WHY DID I DO THIS?!

Then we started running, the sun came out as we ran over the Golden Gate Bridge, and I only went over my personal best time by about two minutes–and there was my answer. 

Thank you to Michelob ULTRA for sponsoring this post. Check out their new golden brew made with organic grains here.