What Now?

June 2, 2011

I think I'm tired of running. Either that or I'm just wandering around like a lost, little lamb. It's pretty much the same thing I do after every big race I finish--or don't finish, I guess.

I'm just so inclined to find another marathon to run. A fall marathon, or a summer marathon, or an I-don't-care-what-season-it-is-just-give-me-another-marathon marathon. Maybe I need to accept the fact that I'm a marathon runner.

But here's the thing, I'm so much better at the short distances. Actually, now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure that with the exception of one half-marathon, I've either won my age group, or placed in the overall top three of every shorter race I've run since Maggie's been born.

Wait. Before you get impressed, please remember that I live in Maine, where everyone's chunky, very few people venture out of their recliners, and our winter lasts for 9 months out of the year. This isn't exactly a running Mecca, and actually, the competition is usually wearing summer sandals or Ugg boots. But still, when you're a trophy ho like me, a win is a win is a win is a win.

So these races are a little less than fierce, but hey, they're a good time and it never feels bad to have some success. But it's not just that, they're so much more manageable in every single way:

• The training is 1,000,000% less time consuming.
• There's pretty much no travel time to get to a little 5k.
• Jared doesn't have to wrangle the kids for 4 hours while he tries to see me at 6 different spots along the route.
• The entry fee is usually $15 instead of $893.
• If you fall on your face and fail, you can try again next week.

So, for the first time in years, I think I've maybe convinced myself to stick with the shorter, faster stuff for a while. But more importantly, I've decided to focus on other people for a while. I'm just so damn sick of myself. So sick of me.

I'm coaching a beginner's 5k training group this summer, and it's shaping up to be an awesome group of women--about 10 so far. And let me just say that if you're local, you should totally think about joining. Mostly because I'm fun, and also because I will personally guarantee that we have the dopest t-shirts in all of Central Maine (as long as you think lime green and jogging smiley faces are the dopest).

Then I'm running the Disney Half Marathon in January with my most awesome friend, Megan. She hates running more than any human being I've every known, and this will be her first, and she says I'll probably have to carry on my shoulders for the last 5 miles. So blam, there's another act of selfless service.

I have so many heaven points, that it's almost starting to get unmanageable.

So I guess I have a plan. I'll run some shorter things for me, and help some other people get started.

Either that, or I'll sign up for another marathon. Because I'm an idiot.