Marathons

Is it me, or does it seem like EVERYONE is running marathons? Part of me wants to make fun of them and thier bandwagon approach to exercise but the other part of me wants to join in on what is apparently fun. Since I gained my holiday weight early this year I think I will lean towards the latter.

One marathon girl told me that once you get past the first mile without stopping you can do just about any distance. There's something about getting into the stride of breathing and focus that really gets you past that 10th mile. Well then, I tested out her theory today.

(Disclaimer: don't try the following at home if you hate sweating)
I went to the gym and decided that it would be a good experience to see how well I'd do running a whole mile without stopping at a reasonable speed. I haven't done it since the 12th grade and lets face it---back then we were all athletic rock stars.

There was a real rush of confusion when I hit 0.4 miles and I started to tire. I wanted to quit. I wanted to stop and swear them all off. But then something miraculous happened---I kept going. Sure my left knee stung with a pain I am not sure is normal for people under the age of 50 and I couldn't breathe very well but something inside of me said "What the heck are you doing? Of course you can run an entire mile!" Well, that little voice was all I needed to run through the pain which eventually subsided.

I made it. It felt amazing! And the marathon girl was right it really wasn't that bad after the first mile. I guess I see now what the craze is about. Sure there's pain and suffering related to the run but really what's worth anything without a little bit of trial and tribulation? And lets face it, I really did feel like a rock star all over again (even though it took me 7 minutes more to get there).

I walked away from the gym and picked up a flyer to a local 5k. Maybe this wagon isn't such a bad thing to run after. Its called the Turkey Trot. How tough can it be? ;)