I Just Felt Like Running

This is what I'm thinking...The St. George marathon is October 4th. That is my first choice, but there's a possibility that I (or we) don't get in just because there is a limited number of entrants and you have to sign up for a lottery. If that doesn't work out, then I (we) can go ahead and shoot for the Chicago marathon that is the following week on October 13th. I realize that it's on a Sunday. Why don't I feel more bad about that? Maybe it's because I'm a convert and growing up playing soccer on Sundays was just how we did it back in the day. Or maybe I just look at it as being a part of vacation rules...Laura, Dave, and Greg know what I'm talking about. So going all the way out to Chicago qualifies as a vacay and the result is that the commandments change. I know that sounds dumb, but you have to admit that your mentality is slightly different when you go on vacation at least with respect to how you observe the Sabbath.

I started reading Ultra Marathon Man. I'm only a little ways into it, but it's interesting. The writing is a little bit simple and to the point, but his story is pretty engaging. While at his 30th birthday party and having reached certain lofty goals, Dean Karnazes felt he was living without a real sense of purpose. He ended up leaving his own party when a very flirty and attractive woman attempted to loosen him up and have him forget his marriage vows to his high school sweetheart. He ended up running the whole night, traversing 30 miles. For him that was obviously a pivotal moment in his life where he could have chosen infidelity. Instead he just left and ran through the entire night. Have you ever had that same burst of energy where you just don't know what to do other than just run?

I think I understand a little bit better the last couple years why Forrest just felt like he had to run. I wonder what the writer's intention was behind interjecting that event into the storyline. For me there have been a couple of times, where, out of sheer frustration and pent up energy I've just felt like I had to go running to expend the excess levels of anxiety that I had been feeling. The most vivid time was after a girl had broken up with me, and I finally realized that I just had to let go completely. These were not simultaneous events. After a month or two I just had a very hard-hitting realization that I just needed to move on with my life, but accompanied with that was a tremendous sense of loss and despair. I had no idea what else to do so I just went out and ran. It was out of my apartment just south of BYU campus, down past the cemetary in Provo. I think covered something like 6-7 miles and I barely even felt it. Sometimes that release is just so good though.

The marathon for me is more just about conquering what seems to be a very imposing task - running 26.2 miles, for about 4-5 hours. That's hard to do. How often do you just get tired standing on your feet that long? let alone keeping your legs chugging for that distance and length of time. It's one of those goals that seems to be one of those achievements that I would think a lot of people would like to accomplish at some point in their lives, but a lot of times it's something that's just a vague destination off in the horizon that really never seems tangible or real.

I know Greg is committed to the idea. I hope more of you would join in. Most training programs I'm looking at range from about 16-18 weeks, that's only about 4-5 months. However, that is assuming that you're leading a pretty active lifestyle to begin with. If not a marathon, then maybe go for a 5k, or 10k, or half marathon. It's a very worthy goal. While looking up running events, I came across this one that is already filled up for this year, but is definitely something I'd like to do in the future.