So, I'm brand new to this whole "runnerd" world. I wouldn't call myself a full fledged runnerd yet, but I'm getting closer after every mile I run. If you would have asked me 2 years ago if I would ever run a half marathon I would have looked you dead in the eye and called you the craziest person on the face of the Earth. But more on that later... My notorious quote had always been "give me a ball and a game and I can run until I am blue in the face, but there is no way I am going to run a mile for the sake of running a mile."
I can pinpoint the exact moment this mindset all changed, and it's not a very fond memory. A close friend of mine, Brian (one of my oldest friends), lost his father to a rap sheet of different cancers over 2 years ago now. His name was Bob and he had run multiple marathons in his lifetime, and he was singlehandedly the healthiest person I knew. This being said, I can't count the amount of times we've shared a Guinness together with and without my buddy ("First one of the day!" was his toast whether it was our 1st or 10th of the day). It was shortly after that when Brian approached me with an idea to run the St. Malachi 5 miler in 2010 in his honor and see where it took us from there. I still wear a Livestrong bracelet in his honor today, and plan on wearing his initials "RFH" if/when I complete my first marathon.
To say the training for St. Malachi didn't go according to plan would be an understatement. I started only being able to lightly jog for 1 mile at a time, and slowly built upon that. Being a lifelong athlete- baseball, swimming, soccer, and golf in my earlier years; softball, MMA, golf, basketball, and soccer more recently- I found it incredibly frustrating how slow and steady the climb to having some sort of stamina was going. By the time the St. Malachi run day came I was expecting to "run" 11 minute miles and hoped to finish in under 55 minutes. Looking back on that, it was a good goal, but it's funny how far I've come since then. The gear I showed up in: Under Armour long sleeved shirt and heat gear t-shirt over that. I threw on some Hanes boxer briefs (I thought they would keep everything in place LOL) and a pair of basketball shorts. The footwear situation was even more laughable looking back: a pair of Adidas cotton sport socks and a pair of BRAND NEW Reebok short tennis shoes (I bought them because they are an awesome shade of green). Long story longer I finished the race in 54:45, beating my goal by a good 15 seconds, and had to stop my "running" 4 times along the route to catch my breath and get my legs back underneath me. I was winded by mile 2 and didn't think I was going to finish. Having Brian with me and having Bob as my motivation, I was able to cross the finish line on a dead sprint... but I was HURTING all over. Inner thighs chafed, feet sore and blistered (did I mention it was 35* and raining??), so I thought it was the end of my running career. I was happy to have met my goal and was willing to move on not look at another treadmill again for the rest of my life.
But then came the after party. I was pretty excited to have finished my first race, and seeing all the smiling faces and the party that was going on really showed me the reward side of running. Now, my friends know I am no stranger to a party, and loving being around new, fun people this was really the topper for me. We had beers all day long, enjoyed being with great friends and when it was over, I left with a smile on my face and thought to myself "So, THIS is what it is all about." My first runner's high wasn't from running, it was from joining my fellow comrades in a victory celebration. Anyone that knows me knows that above all, I love meeting and interacting with all sorts of people. That's what has gotten me to where I am in life both personally and professionally. As soon as I realized that running races was a SOCIAL event, I was sold. The long lonely hours of training for the races was worth the payoff of 1 perfect day with thousands of your closest friends.
-RFH-
-Adam
No comments:
Post a Comment