On Running
Why on earth would someone want to start training for a 13.1 mile run, especially when
that person has never in her life run more than 4 miles continuously, having achieved that distance only thrice?
For me, the motivation was the need for something to accomplish. Before I lost my job, I was part of a machine that was constantly producing things to be proud of. We churned out issue after issue, birthing our beautiful paper-and-ink children, and celebrating our successes (if only briefly) before racing to complete the next project.
When all of that went away, I felt lost and anchorless; I had nothing concrete to accomplish. So I decided I'd throw some of my newly available time and energy into a goal that once seemed impossible. I've always wanted to be a natural runner, like those "gazelles" with the short-shorts and the eternal legs that my sister-in-law and I (enviously) scoff at every time we run a 5k. But I'm hardly a natural, and I'll never, ever be a gazelle. (No other wild animal comparisons please.)
The training wasn't easy, but I did it, finishing Saturday's race in 2 hours 23 minutes and 48 seconds. And I made the city's biggest newspaper in the process, just by being in the right place at the right time.
It certainly was a surprise to see this on Sunday morning! I
love how it appears, at first, like I am in the lead. But keep in mind
that Joseph has already run 23 miles in the same time it took me to run
10. The girl in the blue and I are very happy for Joseph; poor number 6737 is confused. She's probably not planning to post this picture on her blog.
Here I am, red-faced and makeup-less, thrilled to have my medal and a bottle of water.
And here are the people who stole my thunder. Not only did they get in the way while Travis was trying to take a picture of me (far in the distance wearing the pink shirt), but I believe this is the couple who got engaged at the finish line. The announcers were too busy talking about their big moment to announce my name as I ran past. Ah, well. I hope they'll be very happy together.
All of this running, running, running for the past 12 weeks has freed my mind in unexpected ways. When I settle in for a long run, on a beautiful trail outdoors with my iPod blasting my favorite tunes, my mind has a tendency to wander in interesting directions. There's a sort of mental freedom that comes with physical exertion, and I've enjoyed the connections, recollections, and inspirations that have accompanied the rhythmic pounding of the pavement.
On Running and Writing
(but not at the same time)
One of my good school friends, from Elementary through High School, started running marathons when we were in our early 20s. I remember her telling me that it bothers her when people say, as they often do, "I could never be a runner. Running just isn't easy for me like it is for you." It surprises her that people think it's easy, just because she persists in doing it. Nothing could be further from the truth. She works hard at running. She gets up at 5:00 a.m. to get her miles in, even when she'd rather sleep. She pushes herself that one more mile in order to progress toward her goal. She treats her food like fuel and disciplines herself to make nutritious choices.
It is the same with writing, except writing is much easier on your knees. People often assume that all writers are gifted with the ability to blurt out perfectly formed sentences, arrange them into paragraphs with little to no effort, and tie it all up with a pretty red bow. This is not the case. While I admit that grammar comes easily to me and I've always had a natural inclination toward the written word, the act of writing is far from effortless. Here's one of my favorite quotes:
"A writer is someone for whom writing is more difficult
than it is for other people."
~Thomas Mann
On Writing and Religion
I've heard several times in religion classes that it is only through resistance that one can truly understand the strength of a temptation. If we capitulate at the first flicker of temptation, not only will we never grasp the strength of that particular force, we'll also never know the strength we have to withstand. We sell ourselves short by giving in too quickly.
This principle also holds true when it comes to writing, running, or any other hard thing that's worth doing; if we succumb the moment we feel uncomfortable, we'll never have a true understanding of how difficult it is to run a marathon or write a novel or play Clair de Lune flawlessly. And likewise, we'll never experience the thrill of discovering that we do have it within us to achieve these things, if we really want to. I'm proof of that. Because 13.1 miles was once an unimaginable distance, and while running is still hard and my right knee is still protesting from Saturday's run, it's not unimaginable anymore.
In a nutshell, if you want to write or run, you can. But you have to work at it, just like every other writer or runner does. You have to put your time in and be willing to push yourself. It's as simple as that. And I'll be here to cheer you on.
~A
p.s. While composing this post, I looked up "temptation," "capitulate," "ability," and "resist" in the thesaurus to find alternate choices for variety. I also consulted a Grammar Girl podcast to remind myself whether it was appropriate to use "farther" or "further" in a previous sentence. I also rewrote several sentences to avoid constructions that I wasn't sure about and didn't feel like looking up. And I reread the entire post at least three times to catch errors. Not everyone will have to go to quite this much effort for a simple blog post, but because I claim to know a little something about writing, there's some pressure on me to produce polished work and set a good example.
