Half Marathon 2012

I have trained for two half marathons which I did not run, and run two half marathons for which I did not train. By the end of yesterday's half marathon I was done. I was not two for two. No need for more. Before I ran the half marathons I'd run a marathon and decided that one was enough to check it off my list. Done and done. I was hot and sweaty. It was at least 90 degrees, no exageration and the ENTIRE course was uphill. I have a passionate dislike for hills, and I am exceptionally bad at them. To top it all, I felt sick, the kind of sick only ladies are aquainted with. It was miserable. But quit I did not, and finish I did. At the end my legs hurt, I was drained of energy, hot, sweaty, and convinced that this too would be checked off my list of things to do in life. I was somewhat sad that my once adventurous spirit was becoming less so because that list I made as a young girl was slowly completed. What will I be doing with myself 10 years from now? I ran the race with my old roommate Liza. We sat, ate, recovered. Then the awards ceremony started. We had already decided we didn't want to stay for the awards ceremony, but we were too tired to move, so there we were. They started with the oldest category first - what seemed to me to be the very, very old category. Then to the sixties...then the fifties. My thoughts - 'Wow, these women look amazing...and they have 20 years on me...and they beat me, by a lot. That could be me in 20 years.' Keep in mind that I have now eaten a banana, rehydrated myself, and my body is slowly feeling better, and so is my spirit. I didn't win any awards in this race, other than the one they give everyone who doesn't quit.

But here is the thing, we all know that exercise is great for our health - but to really see it for the first time is a wholly different experience. These women in their late 50's looked vibrant, and honestly they were leaders and many of them had managed to convince large groups of other people to run with them. They were socially connected, and physically they looked decades younger than their physical age. My decision to quit racing was killed by seeing these vibrant, older women. As I drove the two hour drive home in my rusty old car, I remembered an article I had read several years back about how astounded French scientists to see the results of how good running was for one's health. So quit I will not, and continue I will for these, and many other reasons.