The marathon. The big 26.2 for us not using the metric system, and an even more daunting 42.195 for those of us who do. You want long distance running, you got it. 26.2 miles is enough for me to run to my high school 4.03 times. It is enough for me to run all the way to Minneapolis and spare myself 2.5 miles. It is hard to visualize all of those miles laid out unless something tangible is associated with it. I could tell you all about my race course, but if you can't put a distance you are familiar with to it, then 26.2 is just a number. In the grand scheme, 26.2 isn't even that much. There are races that are 50, 100, 200, etc. miles. Some take days to complete. Some require the use of vehicles, bikes, swimming, or other modes of transportation.
People are surprised to learn that I would willingly subjugate myself to running a marathon, let alone training for it. What is so great about completely exhausting my body over the course of 4 hours anyways? You want to get fit? There is a pill for that. Want to make new friends? Go to a club or new coffee shop. Want to do something new and exciting? Knit a scarf. Take a vacation to Costa Rica and zipline. As humans, we are wound up in immediate gratification. But marathons are a completely different story. Marathons teach you to be strong, to not give up, to continue running even when you think you cannot. People will scoff or belittle you for running long distance. She's doing it just so she can brag. She is too little/not thin enough or doesn't have enough muscles to be a runner. She can't do it. Yeah, sure, I don't weigh 90 pounds and can't see my abs, but I am strong. Physically, my feet took a beating for 4 hours. Mentally, I've been holding on since that day in October I told myself, "I am going to run a marathon."
You give up everything for this race: money, time, yourself. And that is enough motivation to keep you going at mile 20 when your body says, "I've had enough," but your mind has to say, "Not just yet." You can always earn the money back, there is nothing wrong with spending time exercising and getting fit, but you invested yourself wholly into this race, and that's what will bring you to the finish line. Maybe it comes off as pride, but in reality it was passion and determination. I didn't walk in my race once, not because I knew I wouldn't be able to start again, but because I knew if I did, I would be cheating myself; I am so much more than walking, more than giving up the one thing I devoted myself to for 6 months. If I was in it, I was in it for its entirety.
The marathon shows no mercy to anyone, not me nor the man who won in 2 hours and 9 minutes. It finds the darkest parts of your heart and whispers, "You won't make it. And I will make sure you won't." It finds you long before race day to discourage you and on race day to destroy you brick by brick. There is no pity from the marathon. It doesn't care that you flew in from another country, that you gave up time with friends or family to go running, that you have bright eyes at the starting line. But when you finish the race with tears in your eyes, even more light in your eyes before, you know that you conquered the race and all the despair it brought. Finally, it brings happiness. After all those months, skipped ice cream runs, extra hours in the morning to sleep, they paid off to fulfill your wild dream of running 26.2 miles.
Just because you finished past your goal time or maybe worse than your previous race, you did it. You lapped everyone on the couch, those who said you couldn't do it, and yourself. You beat the little voice in your head that told you to stop while you could and your legs that screamed in agony as you pushed for just one more mile. Let's be honest, muscles can heal and forget about past pain, but the race will be forever seared into your memory. It is no easy feat, so give thanks to those who helped you along the way and the fans who said to keep going. Most of all, look into your heart and say, "I knew we could do it." You did what a younger version of you never could have imagined. You did what you never thought you could do. I did what I never thought was possible.
~Ashlyn
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