Wednesday, March 29, 2023

Arrogance can be Humbling

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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