Merry-athons: September 7, 2006

When I say I’m addicted to running, the reality is much more specific: I’m addicted to marathon running. Marathons are the perfect challenge for someone like me. I am an athletic person and runner, pounding the pavement somewhere in between novice and elite. I yearn for the former glory days of my varsity youth, but I don’t like to go out and run repeat 400s anymore (probably because my splits are too depressing). I hate treadmills but I love to sweat, burn, hurt, hate my alarm at 6am, wear full body spandex, eat carbs, run into the wind (both ways), crush the dreams of old men, hit the wall, dream up my next big marathon, and shock and awe as many unwitting pedestrians as I can on my way to Central Park for my daily six to ten miles of sanity. I could probably work a little less and train a little harder to become a faster marathoner…but where would the reality be in that?

In lieu of reading this blog, you might just want to read the marathon event ads of running apparel companies. They are much more articulate and inspirational (not to mention succinct), than I am. As part of the Boston Marathon’s “Why do you Run Boston,” Adidas helped produce “The Seven Stages of Marathon: ritual, denial, shock, isolation, despair, affirmation, and renewal.” I feel every single one of these feelings during a marathon (and then some), and it is the only hobby I have found that can produce this spectrum of emotion in the course (pun intended) of one dedicated activity. Granted, there is a lot of time in a marathon to produce such a trajectory of feelings (especially at my pace), but the point is that unlike in high school and college when one person won the race or the game, a lot of winning outcomes result from my runs these days. Let’s be honest, every time I even make it out the door and put one foot in front of the other I do a little fist pump and call it a victory. I love that the mentality of the marathon is that everyone is a winner just for reaching the finish line, evidenced by the fact that everyone throws up their arms in victory and receives a medal upon reaching the finish. I love that a marathon can end up being either a weekend jog or a life-altering experience for me.