See Diva Run

This weekend the Mardi Gras Marathon will take place without me. The Mardi Gras Marathon is my “must do” race. I ran it in 2008 and 2007, and the half in 2006. The decision to skip it this year was not an easy one, even though I couldn’t run a 10K right now, let alone a marathon. My approach to my new running life is mostly pragmatic. I am careful about increasing speed or distance. I rarely run more than 4 miles, and I accept that this is what I can do now, and that distance running in the future must be the result of a careful progression. If it turns out that I don’t progress to the half or full marathon, so be it. That is my rational self. Running marathons isn’t exactly a rational thing to do. As long as I’m pining for the Mardi Gras Marathon and the topic for Take it and RUn Thursday at The Runner’s Lounge this week is “The Marathon Explained”, I’m posting about the marathon I’m not running.

Why do people run marathons? Especially people who clearly aren’t gifted runners? I think most people have a list of things that they consider nearly impossible to achieve, and running 26.2 miles appears on most people’s list. Even though I’ve completed 6 marathons, it still challenges my idea of what I can do. The thrill of a marathon is only partly about the marathon itself. It’s mostly about the feeling of accomplishment that follows the marathon. There is something very satisfying about doing something that is difficult enough that most people won’t even attempt it. Admittedly there are far more people attempting it now than ever before. Programs like Team in Training are bringing lots of new people to marathons. Some will do it once, have their curiosity be satisfied and check it off their list. Others will catch the marathon bug, and sign up for their next race within a few days of finishing that one. That is how I used to be.

Even though I’m playing the one day at a time game with distance, I still hear the call of the marathon. New Orleans misses me as much as I miss New Orleans. I’m sure of it. The Lake Tahoe Triple Marathon calls out to me as well. If you are to prove something to yourself, why not prove it three days in a row? Imagine the feeling of accomplishment you would have once you could move again! What’s a few hours (days) of misery for a lifetime of glory?

Why do people run marathons?

• Because they can.
• To find out if they can.
• To find out if they still can.
• To find out how fast they can.

Or to have something to do while waiting for the bands to start playing on Bourbon Street!

Related posts

http://seedivarun.com/blog/mardi-gras-marathon-2008/
http://seedivarun.com/blog/mardi-gras-marathon-2007/

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 29th, 2009 at 10:29 pm and is filed under Training. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.