No Pain, No Gain... No Bees, No Honey

Celebrity blogger and Boston marathon qualifier Shelly Tuma is at it again!

Those of you who took the 2007 Spring Marathon Training Program loved Shelly's work on this blog, so she's back by popular demand!

Click here to the buzz Shelly created on this blog previously, and keep reading to find out what she's been up to lately.

Actually, what happened is Shelly e-mailed me this story (below) since she it reminded her of my tale from last year's TC10 when I was fishing a safety pin out of my sock less than two miles into the race.

The big difference between our two stories is there is point where Shelly must have looked like a complete idiot through no fault of her own, throwing her gear all over the road.

However, in my story, I was a complete idiot through every fault of my own, dumping a safety pin out of my sock and onto the road.

This story is about Shelly's 20 miler last weekend. It's pretty motivational.

We went to the cabin, so I had to go it alone. First when I got up it was 45 degrees! I could see my breath outside. The cool air felt so good. A mere 3 miles into it, I am running along jamming to the tumes on my mp3.

Getting all the kinks out and warming up, when out of no where a bee flies up into my sunglasses. I freaked out! I could not get it out and my sunglasses flew off my head and my hat came off with my headphones. The bee stung me righ under my left eye.

So then what do I do? I am only three miles into it. There is no way I am not going to run on this perfect weather day. So I kept on.

I found a gas station at mile 6 and went to check it out. A little swollen, but I could still see and the stinger came out.

The lady at the station (of course I had to get a key since in the middle of nowhere someone might destroy the bathroom and they need to keep it locked!) thought I was nuts. She was trying to give me hydrocortisone and ice.

"Can I call someone for you?" she said.

I said, "the clock is ticking sister I gotta run! 14 miles to go!"

Anyway, it was pretty funny. Later I kept thinking of what a sight that must have been throwing my stuff all over the road because I am terrified of bees. People must have thought I was having some sort of fit....It made me laugh. After a couple beers that night I felt even better!

So now I know I am really ready to do those last two 20 milers. Nothing can stop me.