Although you may have a lot of work on your plate today, boredom sets in quickly. However, it’s not time yet to leave your current routine behind, even if your fantasies of escape are quite vivid. Don’t let go of your dreams; just put them on the back burner for now. After your commitments are fulfilled you can explore ways to break free.

You may play the role of the serious romantic today and could benefit from stirring up interest within an existing relationship or looking for a new one. But your somber approach could prevent you from reaching your goals. Fortunately, a sudden breakthrough can change everything in an instant. If you are struck by the light of truth now, don’t fight it.

Normally, you make promises with the intent of keeping them, but this isn’t such a normal day. Something unexpected could occur, causing you to go back on your word and giving you a bit of explaining to do. But looking for reasons may be futile now. Instead of trying to figure out what happened, concentrate on improving the current situation. Focus your attention on being practical and save the philosophical inquiry for another day.

Your goals may shift today, leaving you floundering with uncertainty as you approach the weekend. Changing your schedule might not be worth the stress; just follow through with your previous commitments, exactly as promised. Nobody has to know what you are thinking now, even if your heart isn’t being fed by your current actions. Nevertheless, don’t keep your thoughts inside because you’ll feel a lot freer after they are out in the open.

You may be very hard on yourself today, even if you feel the emotional support of others through their words and praise. Still, you are tempted to ignore a friend’s optimistic perspective or might even question his loyalty. Your non-conformist point of view could precipitate a crisis if you begin to doubt your own judgment. Simply employ the healthiest strategy possible based upon what you already know.

Today’s Virgo Full Moon in your 1st House of Physicality is likely creating stress in your body. How you are able to move with this intense energy flow could be a mystery, yet your happiness depends upon finding a sensible solution. Don’t try to force the issue. When others see that you can be graceful under pressure, they will continue to accept you as their leader, whether or not you asked for the part.

You may be feeling a bit discouraged today and it could be particularly difficult to shake off the negative energy. You might attempt to share a previously hidden story, yet the more you talk, the less you’ll be able to remember about your problem. The more you attempt to reconstruct your buried feelings, the more elusive they become. Just relax and don’t try to change anything. Your happiness may be waiting around the very next corner.

Today’s Full Moon floods your 11th House of Long-Term Goals and activates your dreams. Although your spirit feels revitalized, the Full Moon’s opposition to unorthodox Uranus urges you to take a risky shortcut. However, hard work is the best way to get what you want. Meanwhile, the looming Sun-Uranus conjunction continues to tempt you to experiment. Instead, stick to the tried and true method over a radical new course of action.

The Virgo Full Moon illuminates your 10th House of Status today, giving you the impetus to dig in your heels and make a political statement. Although you may see yourself as a radical troublemaker, you might not be as disruptive as you think you are now. Thankfully, you won’t need to turn everything upside down in order to make the progress you seek.

The pragmatic Virgo Full Moon should help you to keep your mind on your work. However, she is rattling your 9th House of Adventure, encouraging your secret dreams about going on a spiritual journey. For now, it’s smarter to set aside impractical ideas of traveling around the world. Rather than flying off to a foreign land, try studying its culture or learning its language, instead. You may end up discovering there are many ways to feed your wanderlust.

Your heated interactions with others today could be motivated by fear, whether you know it or not. You’re afraid that a powerful person may be trying to control you, yet you don’t really understand the reason. Fortunately, your current concerns will probably fade quickly, but you’re still better off investigating further to quell any uncertainty. Be cautious in negotiations; a lack of finality now won’t necessarily slow you down in the long run.

Today’s Full Moon in your 7th House of Others is a reflection of the Great Paradox for you thin-skinned Fish. You must exist as part of a greater whole, since the school is more important than any one fish. However, you are also required to stand up for yourself by expressing your individuality. You may feel as if you’re walking a fine line between being overly flexible and stubbornly rigid. The key to your current happiness now is practicing moderation in everything you do.

We are different, in essence, from other men. If you want to win something, run 100 meters. If you want to experience something, run a marathon.
~Emil Zatopek

In 1980, when my children were old enough to stay alone for a few minutes, but young enough that it had to be only a few, I decided to make a dash to the store. I was thirty-four and breathlessly shocked that I couldn’t run two blocks without stopping. It was at that moment I was humiliated enough to take up jogging. We lived near a park and the trek from my house around the park and back was a mile and a half. Day after day I ran the course until I could do it without stopping. I was a runner! Unfortunately I was soon an injured runner with no idea how to stop the pains in my shins, but I did know who to ask. Twice a day I would see a fellow run past my house. I knew he lived in the white house right across from the park. He seemed to run a little more than I did, so I figured he’d know what to do. I knocked on the door and the guy I’d seen running so often answered. He introduced himself as Garry and listened while I told him I was a runner (I actually said that) and asked if he knew anything about running injuries. He gave me lots of advice and suggested I go to a running store and replace my little tennis shoes with something better.

At the store I mentioned my neighbor and was treated like royalty. The clerk explained that the guy I’d been talking to was Garry Bjorklund, the Olympic runner, and didn’t I know who he was? I knew enough to be totally embarrassed that I’d called myself a runner in his presence and resolved then and there to actually become one.

So I trained. Every day I ran a 5-mile loop, usually around 5:00 AM before my husband and kids woke up, and every day I would meet Bjorklund and a friend heading out as I was coming home. They always encouraged me, and I always picked up the pace.

In the fall of 1981, after a summer of intense training, I ran the City of Lakes Marathon. In order to get a T-shirt, you had to finish in less than four hours. I know it’s shocking, but in those days, there were no bags of treats, medals, prizes, and news coverage. There were just some time officials, awards for the top finishers, and a T-shirt for finishing in under four hours. I finished the grueling 26.2 miles in about 4 hours and 20 minutes, which might very well have been last place. Most everyone had gone home except a wonderful volunteer who vowed to stay until the last person finished. But I was too late for the shirt.

I went home that day, thrilled to have run my first marathon but devastated that I had nothing to show for it. My kids made me tinfoil medals and when they hung them around my neck, I started to cry. I think I was still crying when the doorbell rang and there stood Bjorklund. “You’re the one who deserves this,” he said, and handed me a marathon shirt.

 The Twin Cities Marathon replaced the City of Lakes Marathon in 1982 and instead of circling two lakes four times, it now winds around those lakes and continues on the scenic parkways and river roads of Minneapolis and Saint Paul. Thousands of supportive volunteers and hundreds of thousands of spectators with boom boxes blaring the theme from Rocky line the route to cheer on the more than eight thousand runners. It all ends up in front of the Capitol with great fanfare, copious amounts of food, medals for finishers, and, of course, the coveted T-shirt.

Marathons have come a long way since 1981, but they are still 26.2 miles. It has been twenty-five years since I ran that first marathon, twenty-five years since Bjorklund, a young man who’d won marathons, been an Olympian, and still holds the State high school boys’ cross country 1600-meter record came to my house and handed me a shirt.

My own son, the tinfoil medal maker, and his sister are adults now, running their own marathons. In fact my son just qualified for Boston and last week called and said, “How about lacing up your running shoes again Mom, for me. Because you’re a sixty-year-old woman, if you run a 4:30 marathon you’ll qualify for Boston too! What do you say we go together?” Who can resist an offer like that? Time to get out that threadbare T-shirt and hit the road again!