Run For Your Lives!!!

I don’t consider myself a runner. I never have. Up until recently it was not possible for me to run much further than a mile or so without experiencing significant pain from shin-splints. Thanks to a combination of chiropractic work and orthotic in-soles, I am now running pain free.

But that still does not make me a runner.

It makes me someone who is capable of running.

what is strange is that I find myself looking forward to running more and more. Not so much the 5am wake up for a 5 mile run, but for the adventure runs, the scavenger hunts, the triathlons, and challenges they provide.

Emmy is embarking on a half-marathon this weekend. I am in awe of her. Ten months ago she and I were both couch potatoes. Sure, we had some background athletic abilities and were not starting from scratch, but there was nothing in either of our daily habits that would have indicated that in under a year either one of us would be capable of completing 13.1 miles of continuous running.

Emmy and I did, however, want to lose weight. So we started dieting. Nothing hard-core, just simple attention to calories and portion size.

Emmy was the first to step on the elliptical. Before long she was logging some serious weight loss. I was jealous. So I started too. I ventured outside before she did. I worked my way up to 3.5 miles. Emmy kept on the elliptical, logging more and more time.

In June we both entered the Reach the Bridge race. It was the first time Emmy or I had tried anything like that. While I had worked my way up to the occasional 6 mile run (with many days of recovery after), Emmy had just gotten herself out on the road. She was finding it was different than the elliptical and had not managed to log nearly as many miles.

We both finished it and began looking for the next challenge. I went on to do a triathlon and an off-road race. Emmy set her sights higher: a half-marathon.

This weekend she is going to accomplish that goal.

While I can run faster than she can, there is no way that I cold possibly keep up with her for 13.1 miles. I think my heart and legs would give out around mile 8. And, to make matters worse (for me), Emmy gets faster the longer she runs.

I just finished the book Ultra-Marathon Man by Dean Karnazes. It is an auto-biography about a man who regularly runs 100+ mile races. Not my idea of fun.

But he does have an interesting point about success in running. It is about finding a challenge. Setting a goal. And then going out and conquering it.

I think that is where Emmy and I have found ourselves with the running. What started out as a means to an end (weight loss) has turned in to something much greater. Now it is a means to overcome challenges we set before ourselves.

I may not be a runner, but I have registered for three races between now and next June (with a few more that I have yet to sign up for). Emmy is about to take on a very challenging half-marathon (several miles of continuous hill-climb). And, at the end, instead of sitting down and basking in the glory of it all, we will probably end up registering for the next, even greater challenge. (Will Emmy be satisfied with anything less than a full marathon?)

So, in the end, I am not a runner. But I do like the feeling of accomplishment. I run because it gives me a feeling of accomplishment. It allows me to feel like I am doing something that I have never been a le to do before. To push myself farther. To overcome something. I don’t have to win. I have to complete it. I have to finish.

Is it nice when I run my 5 miles faster than ever before? Yes! but, I find myself pushing myself to run faster, not so I can pat myself on the shoulder, but so I can add more miles to my run and still get it done in time to get a shower in, make breakfasts and lunches, and get the kids and myself off to school.

And, who knows, maybe one day I will be able to hang with Emmy.