A number of
years ago in one of my blogs I boldly stated that anyone could do a marathon as
long as they put in the training. I’m
now living proof of how wrong I was. Over
the last 3 years I racked up over 4000 miles, consistently averaging over 100
miles a month. It’s the first time in
my life that I have run continually for that many months in a row. Given that dedication to insanity it would
be natural to believe that a marathon would be the proverbial walk in the park
(pun intended). Not even close. In
fact over the last couple of years not only have the miles gotten harder but I’ve
gotten slower. But it’s
not speed that is the challenge, it’s time on your feet. It’s an interesting conundrum, the slower
you go the longer you are out pounding the pavement for the same distance. The
longer you are out there the harder it is to stay hydrated, fueled, and injury
free. At some point you’re like an
engine without oil, your body just seizes up and won’t go anymore.
An astute
reader might be thinking…can’t you just eat and drink along the way? It’s a good question Captain Obvious. If I
remember my high school biology class correctly, eating draws blood to the
stomach to digest the food. Guess where
that blood comes from. Going back to my
earlier car analogy, the muscles are much like the engine, they need fuel and
oxygen to function. For muscles that’s
your body’s stored fuel and the oxygen from your lungs. The oxygen takes a ride in the blood stream from
the lungs to the muscles. Either
getting out of breath or reducing the blood to the muscles will ultimately cause
the engine to grind to a halt.
But enough geeking
about the biology. The reality is despite
all the training over the last 3 years, I haven’t been able to get the body to
go longer than a half marathon. It’s the reason the Marathon Challenge takes
me three days. Is it the lung damage from the chemo, the
awkward running mechanics from the Parkinson’s or maybe I’m just getting
old. But the point is, it was incredibly arrogant
of me to assume that everyone else had the same physical ability I had been
blessed with and it was just a matter of them putting in the effort. Sometimes wanting something and putting in
the effort just isn’t enough. Lesson
learned.
Karma can be
a bitch and incredibly humbling.
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