My Own Worst Enemy

I feel totally ashamed, disheartened and overall just humiliated – just read the story of Amber Miller, the woman who ran in the Chicago Marathon, completed it and then moments later gave birth to a baby-daughter!  Amber happened to be 39 or 40 weeks pregnant at the time, and still somehow ran the entire distance, making numerous other runners (some of them – men) look pretty bad…

I know that by now I am certainly capable of running the full distance of that marathon, although I would probably be one of the last to finish it, undoubtedly behind all the senior citizens and pregnant women.  Don’t get me wrong – I am in somewhat of a good shape and run consistently enough to have built up a decent level of endurance.  Nevertheless, having said that, I am nothing but a slacker, a bum, incredibly not serious or passionate enough about it to take full advantage of this most effective method of outdoor activities.

I guess I do it mostly for the thrill and adventure of it, nothing more.  I get asked all the time whether or not I will be participating in various marathons in the area and across the country – and so I am forced to come up with some made up excuses, explaining why I would not be able to make it to Florida or even to nearby Allentown… The truth, however, is that I simply don’t see a reason why I would run in those marathons, in my mind I have nothing to prove and nothing to work towards – when it comes to running, to me all the goals have been reached, all the obstacles conquered.  And that, my dear friends and colleagues, is completely and entirely wrong!

If a woman can run a full marathon and deliver a baby at the same time, well then, what is possibly stopping me from doing the same and more?  By ‘same’ I mean the marathon part only, of course; I am not delivering anything any time soon.  I am merely pissed off at my own complacency, the trap into which I fall time and time again.  And it takes an incredible example of a running pregnant woman to snap me back to reality, at least mentally, and tell myself: “Come on, man, what are you waiting for?  Go for it!” – but of course it doesn’t last.

Until next time,

KEEP IT RUNNING