As I embark upon the wonderful world of preparing for a marathon (notice I haven’t said anything about actually TRAINING for a marathon), I am perplexed and quite frankly annoyed by the naysayers I am finding along the way. When I first told that certain special someone (henceforth referred to as TCSS) I was considering doing a marathon, rather than a big congratulatory hug, I was met with “A marathon? Uh, shouldn’t you maybe try a half marathon first? Or a 5K?” Now let’s be clear. He was right. Seriously. I have never run, and now a full month after registering for the marathon, I have yet to begin any sort of training or exercise regimen. And I’m not exactly young or in great shape. But that’s not to say I haven’t started preparing. It’s like the great philosopher once said:
So while I haven’t started PHYSICALLY preparing for the marathon, I’ve been thinking about it. The Great Procrastinator. Nice to make your acquaintance.
I’ve done a little internet searching and there is a lot of advice and there are many training programs out there. From the looks of it, I still have plenty of time to train. I found this interesting article on 26 reasons NOT to run a marathon. But rather than try to convince TCSS (or anyone else for that matter) that this is a GOOD idea, I’ll keep it under my hat for just a little while longer.
Maybe my entrance into the world of running shouldn’t be in the form of a World Class Marathon. But Go Big or Go Home…right? So except for my son the bailer, I haven’t told anyone. Not even my best friend. I’d rather hide the fact that I tried rather than let everyone know I failed. Crazy talk, I know. But don’t we all want the world to think we have it all together? And even though TCSS is probably right, I’d much rather approach this thing with nothing but positive thoughts. So for now I plan to keep it to myself. Really, how hard of a secret can training for a marathon be???
Who motivates you to run? Has anyone ever discouraged you from running? Who motivates you the most? Who would you rather keep their opinions to him/herself? How do you handle any negativity that comes your way?