Week 4 of 1/2 Marathon Training
Today I finished my 4th week of 1/2 marathon training. I ran 19 miles this week...and 7 of those miles were run today. I found myself thinking about a mom who I sat beside at my daughter's softball practice today. After my husband mentioned my run for the day, she said something that I hear from people time and again. "I have to give it to you. I am just not a runner." She went on to tell me about how out of breath she gets when she tries.
I can't even count the number of people who have said this to me over the past several years since I really got into running. I smile to myself and imagine me popping out of my mother's womb with Saucony running shoes on my feet. It simply doesn't happen that way. To a runner, having someone say this to them is just as ludicrous as my visualization of how others think I and others came to be runners. Those of us who are runners know that it takes practice, dedication, and, yes, miles and miles of hard breathing before it starts to get easy. In order to truly become a runner, you have to get past the hard part where you are out of breath and miserable.
A runner is a runner because he or she had the fortitude and grit to push through the bad runs. A runner is a runner because, even though it hurts, he or she will press on. A runner is not a runner simply because it is easy and natural to them. Yes, for some people it comes easier than it does to others. Let me be clear that I do not, at all, fall into the "natural runner" category. It is hysterical to me that people think I am one of the "natural types." How quickly they forget...or maybe never knew...the Gail who was overweight, sick, and unable to run a lap around a track. More of my adult life has been lived that way than with the KetoRunningMama lifestyle.
I became a runner because I realized that I was going to be living a lifetime of figuring out how I was going to overcome something very uncomfortable...Multiple Sclerosis. Running marathons has taught me that I can overcome anything. I can climb that hill when I am so tired that my legs do not want to move. I can overcome the mental anguish that happens to runners when they hit a wall...because I know that no matter how thick that wall may be, it is not the wall that Multiple Sclerosis can build IF I allow it to. I can run that extra mile each week that will get me to a race even when I struggle as a full-time working mom to find the time to run it...because moving my body is necessary...for it may refuse to do so tomorrow. I can show my kids that this lifestyle is necessary for a healthy life through my example because I will not accept that they, one day, may have to learn that their bodies have betrayed them the way that I thought mine had betrayed me. I can run as far, as fast or as slow, as high, as late or as early, alone or with friends as I need to because as long as I keep moving, MS gremlins are at my back.
It is not natural for a woman fighting MS to run 1/2 marathons and marathons. I have worked for every one of those miles. Don't get me wrong, I do not find it insulting when people say this to me. Rather, I realize that, if the person telling me truly tried to run or bike or swim....or whatever his or her exercise of choice is...that person doesn't realize what it is like to struggle and not give up when it comes to moving his or her body. The person does not know what that feeling of victory feels like. I didn't know for the first 36 years of my life.
The struggle is what makes the finish so rewarding. Embrace it.
KetoRunningMama
I can't even count the number of people who have said this to me over the past several years since I really got into running. I smile to myself and imagine me popping out of my mother's womb with Saucony running shoes on my feet. It simply doesn't happen that way. To a runner, having someone say this to them is just as ludicrous as my visualization of how others think I and others came to be runners. Those of us who are runners know that it takes practice, dedication, and, yes, miles and miles of hard breathing before it starts to get easy. In order to truly become a runner, you have to get past the hard part where you are out of breath and miserable.
A runner is a runner because he or she had the fortitude and grit to push through the bad runs. A runner is a runner because, even though it hurts, he or she will press on. A runner is not a runner simply because it is easy and natural to them. Yes, for some people it comes easier than it does to others. Let me be clear that I do not, at all, fall into the "natural runner" category. It is hysterical to me that people think I am one of the "natural types." How quickly they forget...or maybe never knew...the Gail who was overweight, sick, and unable to run a lap around a track. More of my adult life has been lived that way than with the KetoRunningMama lifestyle.
I became a runner because I realized that I was going to be living a lifetime of figuring out how I was going to overcome something very uncomfortable...Multiple Sclerosis. Running marathons has taught me that I can overcome anything. I can climb that hill when I am so tired that my legs do not want to move. I can overcome the mental anguish that happens to runners when they hit a wall...because I know that no matter how thick that wall may be, it is not the wall that Multiple Sclerosis can build IF I allow it to. I can run that extra mile each week that will get me to a race even when I struggle as a full-time working mom to find the time to run it...because moving my body is necessary...for it may refuse to do so tomorrow. I can show my kids that this lifestyle is necessary for a healthy life through my example because I will not accept that they, one day, may have to learn that their bodies have betrayed them the way that I thought mine had betrayed me. I can run as far, as fast or as slow, as high, as late or as early, alone or with friends as I need to because as long as I keep moving, MS gremlins are at my back.
It is not natural for a woman fighting MS to run 1/2 marathons and marathons. I have worked for every one of those miles. Don't get me wrong, I do not find it insulting when people say this to me. Rather, I realize that, if the person telling me truly tried to run or bike or swim....or whatever his or her exercise of choice is...that person doesn't realize what it is like to struggle and not give up when it comes to moving his or her body. The person does not know what that feeling of victory feels like. I didn't know for the first 36 years of my life.
The struggle is what makes the finish so rewarding. Embrace it.
KetoRunningMama
Comments
Post a Comment