run fatgirl run

I know I haven't been blogging much.  I'd say I'm sorry, but it would probably be a lie.  But, for my two faithful followers (you know who you are), here's a post.  (Warning: it's not very funny.)

Last Saturday I ran in the Cap City half marathon.  It was quite delightful.  A while ago, Raskolnikov wrote a post on his blog about how he believes marathons are pointless.  I'd go back and read it again, but I'm lazy.  I think the basic idea was that marathons are inconvenient for a lot of people who aren't participating in them and that people can just run the miles themselves.  I agree with both of these points.  Except with an organized race you have the benefits of having water and first aid stations every few miles, getting prizes and food at the end and having people cheer you on.

The people cheering you on is probably one of the best thing that keeps you going.  It's a well established fact that I'm not the best at training for races.  I always have good intentions, but you know where those lead you.  My goal for this race was simply to run the whole way.  With spectators every mile along the way, it was much easier to keep my goal.  Sure, I didn't have it written on my face that I wasn't going to walk at all, so no one would have called me on it.  But just being out there and knowing that people would see me if I walked was enough during the difficult miles.  It's nice hearing, "You're doing great!" and "You're almost there!" even if I know that neither of those are true.  Plus some random kid, probably right out of the dorms, had slices of oranges that turned out to not be drugged (I ate one) and it was just a very nice thing for him to do for us runners.  It's highly doubtful that I would have gotten that if I'd just been on my own 13.1 mile run that day.  (And more likely that I would have been drugged.)  It's also unlikely that I would have gotten a medal at the end of a run sponsored by just myself.  And who doesn't like getting medals?  (Answer: no one.)  (Even if they end up sitting in a drawer for a while, I still earned a medal.)

This is how bad I am at blogging: that was my second half marathon, the first being in Dayton last fall.  And I now have three marathons under my belt as well (Nashville; Dublin, Ireland, and Myrtle Beach).  I've thought about blogging about them all, of course, but I just never got around to it.  But, at least now you know.

So, when you see a marathon, or any kind of race, really, go ahead and cheer, even if it's just for a few minutes.  We really appreciate it.