The Girls of Fall.

"Maybe some women aren't meant to be tamed.  Maybe they just need to run free 

'til they find someone just as wild to run with them."  

Thank you, Carrie Bradshaw, for the ever present narration of my 30's.  When the workouts are only intense   and up hill and I find myself within striking distance of the Philly Marathon, I can't help but cling to the support of the women in my life - those that are far more experienced than I; and those that aren't; those that are grounded in a way that is so earthly, I marvel at it like a season changing; and those that fly, without hesitating, into the clear blue sky.  It is a motivational comment on Facebook, a "Good Luck" text at 5:00AM, a hug at the beginning of a workday, pushing my shoulders down, deeply into Savasana, reminding me to breathe, showing me that everything, even a mountain in Africa, is within reach, giving me the tools to be in this moment, the patience on the other end of the phone when I'm too tired to talk, the momentum of the dedicated toward discipline, the never subtle reminder to hydrate and the network of female runners and athletes I fall back on when the running gets tough and the tough can't help but to keep running.  

I am lucky, heading into the running season, to have such strength surrounding me.  It is in each woman, somewhere.  It is in the early risers and the night time sprinters; in the two-a-days and in the gym under the fluorescent lights pushing on.  It is in a dark, hot room, extended into triangle pose.  It is in the way we ice down and roll out; the way we heal and where we recover.  It is in our routines and our strides, our identities and our anonymity, our success and our breaking point.    It is in the late nights spent sitting around a kitchen island drinking wine and venting about the boys and in the cold 10 mile run you have to gut out the next morning.  It is in the balance.

And so, to the untamed women I run with and to those that inspire me to do better, fearlessly, thank you.  For the hugs, high fives, comments, texts, emails, calls, meals, snacks, walks, distractions and reminders, focus and freedom, poems, good luck charms, warriors, pictures, recipes, training schedules, wine, quotes, socks, dreaming bigger than I ever dared, support, and for each and every time you told me I could do it.

Here's to the struggle and the recovery and all that will light the in between on fire.