Why am I doing this?

Good question. Let me recap last week first and I will attempt to give a semi-satisfying answer later on.

Before the race

So, last Saturday morning I had my fourth race on Roosevelt Island (second on the island, fourth in total since mid-June). Another 5k, finished in 21:45, average pace of 7:01/mile, placed 36 out of 461 finishers and second in my age group of 40-44 year olds. Yup, second, but no awards this time for the top three in each age group. Just my luck. I still think, though, I really have to get my 5k race pace between 6:00 and 6:30 to have a solid shot at placing in the top three of the 40-49 years young ones. This is going to be a tough one and I will focus a bit more on 10k races moving forward for now but I will get back to it eventually. I am signed up for a 10k down in Brooklyn on the 25th and a 10k on Labor Day on Roosevelt Island.

The first mile is always the easiest
Photo by Bob Cowin

I have been reading up on other runner's experiences in their first marathons. It seems to be pretty much a pattern of 1) being all hyped up and feeling good at the start (after many weeks of training and hundreds of miles run), 2) running the first few miles like a champ, 3) following all the tips and tricks they have learned, 4) at the half-way mark checking the time and realizing that they are doing better than they thought they would, 5) starting to hit a physical and then mental wall at around mile 20, 6) starting to realize that the last six miles make a marathon what it really is, 7) being proud and relieved to cross the finish line with a time that doesn't matter anymore, and 8) nursing the wounds and soreness for many days to come, wondering at first why they did this in the first place and then researching what's the next feasible marathon they could and should sign up for.

Why am I running? At first this was just all about taking care of my physique. I was overweight, I ate too much and unhealthily, and I was just plain lazy to do something new. After pushing and prodding, as I already mentioned in a posting before, I got back into running and I rediscovered how much I liked it. Then I realized that running doesn't even have to be boring. Pick new routes, run races, meet people. Challenge yourself. Challenge others. In essence what I am doing with running is to fulfill a part in me that wants me to do something that is different from being "normal" or "average." I think we all have that and many of us do that and I finally caught up with it. It just feels good.

I was eventually able to meet up with some members of a running club, the New York Flyers. They are a great bunch of people and while I am usually not so much the social kind of person I am going to treat this as an opportunity to make some changes. Running is challenging me physically, the social aspect of being a member of team will challenge me mentally as well. I signed up to volunteer to be a pace leader in the upcoming NYC Marathon long training run. I picked a pace (8:30) and distance (11 miles) I can maintain and run with a group of other volunteers with the runners that train that day. We would be pretty much in charge of keeping those poor saps (kidding - lucky runners, I meant to say) who are training for the ING NYC Marathon in November company and making sure they know what pace they are running. Kind of like cheer leaders, just a lot sweatier and usually not that good looking.

Oh, and the marathon experiences? I want that. I want to go through that as well. I want to push my physical and mental limits as much as I can. I am only in my early 40s and I have many years to catch up with some of the awesome runners I have met and heard and read about. Wouldn't it be awesome to run with thousands of people, and cheered on by another thousands of people for four hours? If all goes well I want to run my first one next year. Training will start end of summer next year and until then I will just do what I do best: keep running those miles.