So, I'm running the marathon. The Boston Marathon, to be specific, and I'm excited, scared and something else I can't quite put my finger on yet. A lot of people say that Boston shouldn't be your first marathon, that it's too hard and training through the winter is crazy. Anyone who knows me knows how much I love Boston and there would be no other that could serve to be my first.
The fact that I'm going to run a marathon at all is still a little crazy to me. A year ago, I was close enough to 250 pounds to realize that I never wanted to weigh an eighth of a ton. So, I joined a gym and started doing cardio, thinking that was the best way to burn calories and slowly I worked my way up to being able to running on the treadmill without vomiting. After a while I realized that I was running what those crazy people who run call 5Ks. So, I gave myself a new goal: a triathlon.
The training program I followed for the triathlon was an 8 week program that assumed I could run, ride a bike and swim by a guy named Hal Higdon, who apparently writes that sort of thing. In the end, it prepared me to not only meet, but exceed the goal I had for a finishing time. Being on the other of a triathlon and looking forward to the training for a marathon , it sort of seems like I shouldn't have been that daunted by the prospect of completing a sprint triathlon. I mean it was only 1/3 of a mile swim in the ocean , a 12 mile bike ride and then the 5K, which is really just 3 miles.
I hope my sarcasm translates well, but anyway: the fact that I actually did it taught me something about myself. It taught me that I have the discipline to stay the course I have set for myself; that I can remain focused on something which will serve to better me; and that I can do something that I never thought I could do.
i love this post. so honest.
ReplyDeletetransformation, live and personal.
most of my days for the last 15 years have been a marathon effort, the most simplistic tasks of day to day living.
you have inspired me today.