Thoughts on Marathon Training

OK, so if anyone actually reads this (does anyone read this?!), you may know that I am currently training for a marathon. I ran one almost 3 years ago (my first one) and felt a huge sense of accomplishment with it. Similar to the way I felt after growing and birthing a baby, I felt amazed by my body and what it was capable of. So I decided to run another marathon. The goal behind training this time, was to simply get me back out there running. Being the mom of two, I was taking very good care of everyone else, and it left little to no time for me. Signing up for a race forced me to make time to run. And I am back to being hooked on running. I love it, it helps me clear my mind, and it makes me get out of the house!

SO the original plan was to fun the Rehoboth Marathon on December 11. I then was convinced by a silly friend of mine at work to run the Goofy Challenge with her in January. My family and I then decided to do a big trip to Disney around that time so I could run the races and we could all see Disney with the kids. Over the last few months, training has been going OK. I am faster than I used to be, and I am changing up my routes, finding fun new places to run, but it's harder with two kids. They get sick and I am left to care for them. I get sick after them which leaves me out of running for a few days. It's really chaotic at times and sometimes, there's just no way to get a long run in all week! So I decided to drop the Rehoboth marathon. I could be ready enough for it, but I would hate to get injured running it and then miss the Goofy Challenge. SO I dropped Rehoboth and am still running Disney. It's on January 8th and 9th. I am nervous but excited because my whole family will be there to see it!

With all of that being said, as an update of sorts, I have a thought to share that I found in a running magazine. I read it after my bridge run (previous post) which went so well and left me psyched for the upcoming marathon. This reading left me so annoyed and angry, I was really surprised by my reaction. It goes like this;

"The early mornings. The screaming muscles. The countless miles. When you add them up, the sacrifices made by the marathoners who came before us are humbling. And yet look at how we've tarnished their legacy. Somewhere along the line, the marathon became less of a competitive sport and more of a line item on a bucket list. Now don't get us wrong. Running in a marathon is a good thing. In fact it's a great thing. But we can all dig in a little deeper and honor the marathon by treating it more like a race and less like a check box. SO next time you're toeing the line, respect the marathon and run like an animal."

I know that the person who wrote this is probably some elite runner who's body is lean and sleek and who can run a 5 minute mile without blinking...I am annoyed by this though because I feel like running a marathon is a HUGE accomplishment. Whether someone runs it to win, or runs it to simply finish, running 26.2 miles is no small feat. Not everyone is built like a runner. Not everyone has the speed or the freakin time to be an elite runner. I think training for and running a marathon while having a full time job, two kids, and many real life responsibilities is admirable and worthy of praise. I recognize that there is a category or runners who are true elite runners and who actually try to WIN marathons. That's not me. I stay back from the start line so those runners can go first. I push myself, but not for the purpose of winning, rather for the purpose of bettering my previous times. I personally don't see anything wrong with running a marathon the way I do, especially because it's not hurting anyone.

Anyone have any thoughts on this? Is anyone actually reading this? AM I taking this way too personally? Let me know what you think!