After running my first half marathon this past October, a bunch of people have already asked me:
Are you gonna try to PR (set a personal record) on your next race?
Probably not. And while I’d kind of like to, my knee doesn’t want me to. So no, probably not. I just want to have fun and enjoy running through the Magic Kingdom and Epcot.
When are you going to train for a marathon?
Never. Seriously. At the end of the half marathon, the first thought that came to mind was, “I don’t think I’d ever want to run a marathon.”
My legs were aching, my knee was killing me, and it was 1am and I was exhausted. A week later, recovered and back home reflecting on the race, same result – I had no interest in running a marathon.
When I first signed up to run a half marathon , I was kind of shocked with myself, and worried that it might be too much for my body. But I slowly built up my training, followed a manageable plan , and felt good and ready to run the race.
I’m so glad I did. I feel good about this running distance, which is long and takes a while, but doesn’t seem totally unreasonable to me. Granted, it’s a hell of a lot more running than most people do, and I think a lot of long-distance runners and healthy living bloggers lose sight of that sometimes.
WHY I HAVE NO DESIRE TO RUN A FULL MARATHON. EVER.
1. It’s too hard on your (read: my) body.
I feel like I’ve read horror stories about people who have run marathons, and lost full control of their bodies (um, yuck), or can’t walk for weeks after the fact. I know lots of people are into it, feed off it, and love having such a big goal, but I’m happy with the half marathon distance, which is more than enough anyway.
2. I don’t want to run for that long.
One of my favorite parts of training for a half are the long run days. I love getting my gear together, picking out some podcast, Pandora stations, or my own music, and heading off. To me, it’s kind of like going hiking – it’s all about the long journey. And a two or three hour run is long, don’t get me wrong, but doesn’t take up the whole day. I don’t need much more than one waist pack of fuel , and I don’t have to worry about dropping off water bottles along the route.
More time than that, though, seems like too much, especially because unlike hiking, there’s no view halfway through. (Unless you ran up and down a mountain.) It’d probably take me at least six hours to run 20 miles, if not more. It just doesn’t interest me. Nope.
3. It’s fun to be a spectator.
I volunteered for one race before, and think it’ll be especially fun to watch and cheer on runners at the Walt Disney World Marathon in January. Even though I don’t see a marathon in my future, I am amazed by people who do it. It’s inspiring, awe-inducing, and watching runners who I personally know is even more fun. If you can’t join ‘em, watch ‘em.
With the WDW Marathon and Half Marathon coming up the first weekend in January, it’s definitely been on my mind. I’m excited to run my race, for sure (knee, don’t stop me!), and to watch a bunch of my new Disney friends run the marathon (from the media tent – runDisney and blogging about Disney is sweet!).
No matter what, I’m in it to have fun, feel healthy, and feel accomplished. A half marathon gives me plenty of that feeling already.
After running my first half marathon this past October, a bunch of people have already asked me:
My legs were aching, my knee was killing me, and it was 1am and I was exhausted. A week later, recovered and back home reflecting on the race, same result – I had no interest in running a marathon.
When I first signed up to run a half marathon , I was kind of shocked with myself, and worried that it might be too much for my body. But I slowly built up my training, followed a manageable plan , and felt good and ready to run the race.
I’m so glad I did. I feel good about this running distance, which is long and takes a while, but doesn’t seem totally unreasonable to me. Granted, it’s a hell of a lot more running than most people do, and I think a lot of long-distance runners and healthy living bloggers lose sight of that sometimes.
WHY I HAVE NO DESIRE TO RUN A FULL MARATHON. EVER.
1. It’s too hard on your (read: my) body.
I feel like I’ve read horror stories about people who have run marathons, and lost full control of their bodies (um, yuck), or can’t walk for weeks after the fact. I know lots of people are into it, feed off it, and love having such a big goal, but I’m happy with the half marathon distance, which is more than enough anyway.
2. I don’t want to run for that long.
One of my favorite parts of training for a half are the long run days. I love getting my gear together, picking out some podcast, Pandora stations, or my own music, and heading off. To me, it’s kind of like going hiking – it’s all about the long journey. And a two or three hour run is long, don’t get me wrong, but doesn’t take up the whole day. I don’t need much more than one waist pack of fuel , and I don’t have to worry about dropping off water bottles along the route.
More time than that, though, seems like too much, especially because unlike hiking, there’s no view halfway through. (Unless you ran up and down a mountain.) It’d probably take me at least six hours to run 20 miles, if not more. It just doesn’t interest me. Nope.
3. It’s fun to be a spectator.
I volunteered for one race before, and think it’ll be especially fun to watch and cheer on runners at the Walt Disney World Marathon in January. Even though I don’t see a marathon in my future, I am amazed by people who do it. It’s inspiring, awe-inducing, and watching runners who I personally know is even more fun. If you can’t join ‘em, watch ‘em.
With the WDW Marathon and Half Marathon coming up the first weekend in January, it’s definitely been on my mind. I’m excited to run my race, for sure (knee, don’t stop me!), and to watch a bunch of my new Disney friends run the marathon (from the media tent – runDisney and blogging about Disney is sweet!).
No matter what, I’m in it to have fun, feel healthy, and feel accomplished. A half marathon gives me plenty of that feeling already.