So, Friday morning I went grocery shopping and one of the store clerks assisted me out to my car. Normally I can push my own cart full of groceries, but this week I had a lot more bags than I usually do, and the little guy couldn’t sit up front in the cart like he normally would. The clerk notices the two bumper stickers I have on the back of my car.
“So, you’ve run a marathon?”
I always get a little weird when people ask me that. I know, I have two stickers proclaiming it on the back of my car. If I’m going to have those stickers on the back of my car, I have to anticipate that somewhere, on occasion, people will actually ask about the stickers. And yes, I have BOTH. A half-marathon is just as important and takes a lot of effort and totally counts in my book, even though I’ve had people ask me why I have both showcased on my car, as though once I’ve run a full marathon it should totally negate the half.
“Yep, I sure have.” I tell the clerk this while helping him load bags into the trunk.
“That’s pretty cool. My son is training for a full right now. He’s at 23 miles.”
“That’s awesome!”
He continues assisting me and telling me about his son and how hard he’s worked, and while he talks to me I start to feel a little envious. It’s been a long time, a really, really long time since I’ve trained for a race. All the races I’ve worked myself up for this year were either rained out or cancelled. Or went bankrupt. Except for one, and it was a 5K.
As the last bag gets tossed in and the trunk door slammed shut, he asks me where I ran my marathon.
“I did Omaha, and Des Moines.”
More congrats were in order, and I wished his son luck while he encouraged me to get back onto the marathon training horse and continue on with what my original plan had been all along: to run a marathon in every state.
I dwelled a lot on the conversation while driving home. The way it felt to get another mile out of the way. Keeping to a strict training schedule, feeling accomplished. I do miss that from time to time, especially with how nice the weather has been this summer, how perfect running conditions would be for me. It was sort of “my thing”, you know? “Hey, you know that Sara girl… yeah, she runs marathons“. It doesn’t even matter how fast I run them or how well I run them, it’s a certain bizarre prestige that comes with being that crazy marathon running girl.
Meh. (You can’t see it, but I just shrugged).
Running will always be in my blood. I will never truly walk (or run) away from it. And when I’m ready to return, I know that I’ll be welcomed back with open arms. There will always be an exciting race around the corner. This year though, my plan has been to seek out other avenues. I’ve had a lot present itself, a lot that has forced me to look at fitness from an entirely new perspective. That maybe running isn’t the end all to fitness and that maybe it’s okay to be a little bit more well-balanced in my approach. After training for the now defunct Hard Charge race, I stopped caring so much about the end result and cared more about how the training made me feel. What an eye opener! I did some research and found a website that gave a lot of information regarding reverse dieting and strength training, something I’ve never really put a lot of effort into other than the barbell classes I’d take with friends when I had a gym membership. My husband purchased a barbell and weight set for me, for my birthday- which fit perfectly into the strength training I want to incorporate, along with the yoga competition training. It’s not that I’ve entirely given up on cardiovascular workouts. I know they still have a place in my life, but as far as race training is concerned, I’m taking a break from that to pursue other interests. And really, why the hell not? In the end, it’s still about being healthy and feeling good, inside as well as out. Ultimately, isn’t that the goal?
momarock 