I want to run a marathon. There, I've said it, out loud or at least in print. It is crazy, I know, just the thought of going that far under your own foot power for that long. Miles and hours! What am I thinking?! I can do miles and hours in a car or plane but running? You're gonna do what now?! Sit back down, ma'am, before you strain your imaginary muscles just thinking about such a thing!
While I have never been a serious dedicated runner, a marathon has been something that has captured my imagination for a long time. 26.2 miles! A test of will and determination! If Oprah ran a marathon, then you can too! And there is the danger...you could die running a marathon! Or lose control of bodily functions in public! Yay! Oh, wait, that would be bad...
So why a marathon, you may ask? What makes a middle aged woman obsessed with something which seems impossible? Why not try knitting or golf? Neither of those are likely to kill you. Well, golfers do sometimes get hit by lightning or have heart attacks when they get a hole in one but you get my point. Why would I want to set a goal for myself that is so high? Maybe to understand why, you would have to know how I got to this point.
I started running 18 years ago as something positive to do for myself at the beginning of a very bad time. It was either that or I was going to have to start doing major drugs and that was not really a viable option so running it was! I was not, nor have I ever been, a fast runner or anything approaching athletic. In fact, sometimes running too fast or too hard makes me feel nauseated. Good times! You may be asking yourself at this point, why do you run then if it is sometimes an unpleasant activity which has the potential to cause pain and injury? Well for me, running was and is time alone with myself when I can switch off the brain and just be. One foot in front of the other, as fast or as slow as I want to go, competing only against myself. Running is about control and pushing self imposed limits, something you can do as much or as little as you want. And unlike knitting, it is hard to be bad at running so long as you can keep from falling down...or throwing up in public.
Recently, after a few years of not running regularly, I have started running again and I feel good. I have done one 5K in May and tomorrow, I am running another one. Sure, I could take it slow, keep doing 5K runs, then maybe 10Ks and slowly work my way up but I am not getting any younger. And even though my secret strategy has always been to plug away at running until I am so old that I am the only runner in my age group and therefore the fastest, that could take quite a long time. I need to have a goal for myself that I can achieve in the near future, something to look forward to outside of the day to day grind. I guess I could always do grad school but it is expensive and there are Teenagers to send off to college in the near future so running wins again! I feel like now is the time, and with a little hard work and effort, I can get myself ready for something bigger than a 5K, something to really challenge myself, like a marathon! Or there is always golf, but you have to buy all that equipment and there all those are rules to follow...
Anyway, another thing I have also wanted to do for a while is start a blog. I know, I'm way late to the party, blogging is so last decade but so what. This is really for me and if someone else comes a long to read it, then welcome! If not, it will be a record of my journey toward what seems now like an impossible goal...not vomiting in public, I mean, MARATHON!!
No comments:
Post a Comment