I've been flirting with the idea of running the Half Marathon this upcoming March. When it was first suggested to me, I completely balked. 13.1 miles - come on! Impossible! Who do people think I am? I'm not even a runner yet - I'm barely a jogger. It came up over and over though, and eventually I started to ask a few friends in the know about my real prospects.
Almost everyone told me I could do it. "No problem!" they said, which immediately eroded my trust. No problem? Every day of training is a problem. When to fit it in? How to push myself through the discomfort and boredom? How to stay motivated? So saying "no problem" kind of misses the point. I called the one friend I knew would tell me the truth - Jolynn. She understands the struggle of transformation - she's done it herself. She'd give me the reasonable, safe answer.
Jolynn looked up the guidelines for training for the Half and we counted the weeks before the race. I was cutting it very close. It's recommended to train for 12 weeks, and before starting training, the candidate should have been running for 4-6 weeks already (check!) and be able to run for 30 minutes straight, without stopping... Ugh, not so check. Just sort of check. Three days ago I ran two miles without stopping, but I wasn't sure how long that took. Otherwise, I've been doing a lot of alternating - one mile jogging, one mile walking. That's what I thought I was supposed to do!
We agreed if I could run 30 minutes without stopping by Saturday (yesterday) I could train for the Half. If not, then I should let this one go by and sign up for another race in the spring. We hung up and I felt a mixture of sadness and relief.
My sadness turned into anger for some reason today. How is it possible that I've been working my little heart out for 43 days now, and haven't improved enough to take on what I gather some people find a reasonable challenge? How is it (a subject for another blog entry altogether) that I've been sweating up a storm, burning an extra 300 calories a day, eating better, and haven't slimmed down to lean, athletic perfection yet? I refuse to believe that all my effort "isn't working" - this must just be part of the (slow, torturous) process. Right?
Today I headed to the gym with the express purpose of seeing if I could run for 30 minutes straight, without stopping. I walked one mile first to warm up, took the laundry out of the washer and put it in the dryer, and then hit the treadmill for 30 minutes of jogging. It helped that my friend Robin was there at the same time. She told me about the play she was going to see tonight, the opening of "A Little Night Music," which her best friend is producing. We watched football. I listened to music. The time went by so very slowly... and my hips were a nuisance... but I did it.
I ran 30 minutes without stopping. So, technically, I should be able to follow the training guidelines and complete the Half Marathon come March 21. Now I need to just commit to signing up for the lottery. I went online last night and looked at the application. It asks your estimated finish time. I was going through the motions of filing it out and put down 7 hours. I thought that seemed realistic. I was serious! But then the auto-fill sent me a message saying sorry... if you can't finish the Half in 3 hours, you can't sign up. What!? There's a 3-hour cap? 13.1 miles in 3 hours. I x'd that PDF out immediately! Who did they think they were? Running snobs! So what if I needed a little more time?
The training schedule says, if I follow the guidelines for 12 weeks of training, I should be able to run the Half. I refuse to believe I'm an exception. My plan is to start training tomorrow, and if by Jan 5th (the deadline for entering) I feel comfortable with my progress, I will fork over the dough and apply for the lottery. I have a feeling I'm not going to feel "comfortable" though so I will have to work on listening to my brain instead of my body. A little militant - which isn't really my style! Here's a good old fashioned military quote I found on MarathonRookie.com (Adam R. you will like this):
"Now if you are going to win any battle you have to do one thing. You have to make the mind run the body. Never let the body tell the mind what to do. The body will always give up. It is always tired in the morning, noon, and night. But the body is never tired if the mind is not tired."
- George S. Patton, U.S. Army General, 1912 Olympian
I approve! :)
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