Part I: Running = Marathoning

Ok, runners, let’s face it: our sport is complicated.  Not the running part, not the workouts even, but the idea of it.  The fact that 99.9% of us do it for absolutely no financial compensation and that an equal percentage of us will never make the Olympics, or even a National Championships.  The idea that we do this sport out of the sheer joy the journey towards our goals gives us when many in our Western culture were subjected, no, forced to do it as part of our K-12 gym classes and the only way out was to present a doctor’s note claiming exercise-induced asthma or something equivalent and even then you were probably made to walk!  People, non-runners, don’t get it, and what people don’t understand, they largely ignore.  So when I talk to people, mostly non-runners, but often casual runners as well, one of four topics generally come up: marathon running, Roger Bannister, high school mile times, and doping or performance-enhancing drugs.  As the many conversations (some pleasant, some agonizingly painful) of your own come to mind that stem from these common themes, allow me to digress. 

At times, as a middle distance runner, I’ve felt like my running is being completely invalidated by those who believe the marathon is synonymous with running.  I once told a lady I wasn’t going to run the L.A. Marathon.  Her sympathetic yet extremely disappointed reply was, “Oh . . . well . . . maybe next year!”  My chin resting on my feet, she walked off before I had a chance to rebut. 

Another popular response I’ve received regards the ability to cover the 26.2 mile distance.  I’ve been running cross country and track for over a decade, it’s what I do, my passion in life, like so many of you.  Respecting that casual runners or people who don’t run regularly at all put in the work to run an entire marathon over a brief training period (six months usually), I delicately explain that I’ve been running consistently for much longer than six months and that covering the distance would not be a concern for someone who has made distance running a career.  Obviously not delicately enough in all circumstances, I’m faced with such pointed questions of, “Well how do you know if you’ve never done it?  Because if you’ve never done it, then you can’t say you could do it!”  This seems a lot to me like asking someone who has done anything if they could do it a little longer.  The human experience is all about accomplishing that which we didn’t know we could.  Write that down.  But what I’m really trying to say is, there’s more than just accomplishing something.  We can show up to work to do our jobs, or we could do it with a smile on our face.  We could attend class or we could get good grades too.  We can show up to practice but we can work hard while we’re there too.  Again, taking nothing away from those whose primary goal is to complete a marathon (because I believe that many smaller goals lead up to this ultimate one), but don’t forget that there is more.  Can you do it again, but faster next time?  Can you motivate someone else to do it based on your own experiences?  Can you live the rest of your life with the same dedication that it took to accomplish this goal?  I continue to run because I know I can get faster.  I know I will continue to run beyond my prime because I know there is much to be gained in my own life from the running experience. 

    Now that you’ve had some time to think about your own stories, please post them below as comments, I’d love to hear how you respond to the question, “Oh, you’re a runner, are you going to run a marathon?!”  Perhaps you can provide me with some new material.