Beware of Fast Women

3:41:15.

People always told me to watch out for fast women but I ignored their advice and married one. I'm a week late on this (not due to lack of desire to write it), but I need to let everyone know the extent to which Lauren destroyed the field at the 2009 Vermont City Marathon. Check out the race results:

http://www.runpix.info/vmt09/00/finord.php?LastName=cady&lan=&aset=0&dist=42

Not only does a marathon time of 3:41:15 qualify Lauren for the Boston marathon next year... it would still qualify her if she were five years younger. Not only does a time of 3:41:15 set a new personal record for Lauren, but it beats her previous best by 10 minutes, which, for those of you who don't hang out with crazy running people, is an eternity. And, if you clicked on the link above, you'll know that a time of 3:41:15 means that she finished ahead of 76% of the race field, ahead of 88% of the other women entrants, and ahead of 91% of her age group. Just a crazy cool performance.

I posted my Facebook status after the race as "Mike is proud of Lauren". And that pretty much sums it up. But while I'm proud of her and happy with the results of the actual race, I am more impressed with the dedication and the work that went into preparing for this moment. Lauren has wanted to qualify for the Boston Marathon for years, and has focused ridiculous amounts of time, blood, sweat and tears into getting there. There are people in this world who can run faster marathon times with less training. Lauren is a great athlete, but it is not as though this just comes easily for her -- she has had to work as hard as anyone (overcoming asthma, too, as if marathons don't present enough of a challenge) to get here. Whenever I watch her run a marathon, I start thinking that I might like to try one. But the truth is, I'm not cut from the right fabric, and I don't have the drive for it that she does. Which makes it all the more impressive to me. Lauren has set a goal, worked like crazy to prepare for it, and now gets to stand and admire her work for a little bit.

A very little bit, as it turns out, because I think trainig for the next one starts on Wednesday.

3:41:15. Congratulations -- see you in Boston!