“We are running on line north and south.” -Amelia Earhart, American Pilot
I really don’t like running, I borderline hate it, not really hate it, but the overly dramatic version of hating it. Like a 14-year-old daughter hating her parents for not letting her go out to the mall with her friends in a family comedy tv show. It is horrible, it hurts my knees because I am a big baby, it’s slow and not exciting and I just love cycling infinitely more. Anyway, running is not fun, I never enjoyed it but back in early June, I agreed to run a half-marathon thanks to a combination of macho hubris, lack of thinking quickly and peer pressure. Either way, I am committed now, I have signed up and now, next June. I will have ran my first official half-marathon and hopefully, it will be my last.
This comes up because of earlier today, I bought new running shoes because the ones I was previously using are not up to any suitable standard and need to be retired or left solely to be used at the gym as workout shoes. They are dirty, worn and slightly abused. I bought new Adidas running shoes, cost me about 70 euro and while they aren’t super fancy, they will absolutely get the job done. At least for training in advance of the race and I can purchase something a bit more suitable for the lead-up to the race. I never run that far. The only time I run more than a 5k is when I go running and get lost and just continue running until I find something I recognize. I truly have no motivation to run and run without end until my legs fall off but I have to prove to my friend, former professor and myself that I can do it. I have never worried that I couldn’t do something that put my mind to, but I am worried that I will not be able to put my mind to this and do it.
You might be thinking, a half-marathon, that’s not that long. but it’s about 4x longer than any run I have ever done on purpose.I have ridden a bike for 3 or 4 hours at a time, but I have never even come close to even an hour while running. If I said that 35 minutes was the longest I have ever run, I might actually be overestimating that time.
I am going to reach out to a few friends of mine who have run significantly longer than anything I have for advice, training tips and other stuff.
The only thing I am excited about is the health benefits that will come. I have not been able to do much cardio since I moved to Germany because my bike was left behind in the US and I have not had it shipped to me yet. This is something that hurts, but as someone who is working to get more physically fit and be a little bit happier with his body, running will be a big help. I just need to commit and that’s what this is about. Declaring my commitment to running 13.1 miles, without stop and without dying.