I have hit the wall, and that wall, although figurative, seems to be made of granite. I only say that because at 6 foot 8 inches and 250 pounds, I feel like I should be able to run through your average slabs of dry wall. Attempting to learn from the mistakes of last year, I decided to run even more this year. I wanted to help myself believe that I could make it 26.2 miles and that I deserved to make it that far. Unfortunately, the only thing that I seemed to retain from last year’s failure was the knowledge that, well, failure is a possibility.
I went out to attempt a long run last Sunday. I was really going to take my mileage up, but then again it was not supposed to be too enormous of a jump. I was adding 2 miles to the longest run I had made before this, but after running through Forest Park just long enough to hit my first couple hills, any resolve to continue my run was taken from me. There is so many enemies of a person training for a marathon, and on this failed attempt at a run, I seemed to hit them all. If anyone has an idea of how to get past these adversaries to all people who enjoy running, I would love to hear the suggestions.
The first barrier to my running was the hill. It seems so harmless, peaceful really. To describe the idea of a hill to a child would be the simplest concept I could come up with. How can the slanting of a road be so threatening? Why is it that with every step up the incline I take, my heart sinks that much lower? The worst thing about a hill is not the feeling of knotting of the muscles in my legs, but instead, I am convinced that the worst thing is seeing that hill on the horizon and knowing that after that hill will be others just like it, waiting to destroy my chances at continuing my run.
The next barrier I seemed to hit on my run was the wind. While I could drop a few pounds with all my running, I will never be immune to the wind. With a body that stands more than six and a half feet in the air and shoulders that are wide enough to seem to catch all the wind that wants to blow. I swear that if you wanted to create a sail to catch as much wind, my dimensions would be perfect. I used to believe that I had a small advantage with my long if not even remotely athletic or strong legs could be considered advantageous due to the length of a stride that is possible, but little did I know that the size of my body would cause the most difficulty because it would catch the most wind.
All of these other barriers are difficult, but the one difficulty that I would have never thought of is the concept of boredom. Who knew that running could be that boring? Somehow I thought about the idea of pushing my body to the edges of sanity and beyond would be exciting and interesting, and yet I am sad to say that the only thing that happens when my personal odometer turns over to the next mile is continue to count forward to the next mile. The first thing I wanted to do to overcome the boredom was to listen to music, but there are really only so many times you can hear the same playlist before it becomes some odd form of torture.
I am still looking for the mysterious solutions to these issues and others. I decided to leave out the issues of running while my nipples bleed or what to do when it is 30 degrees outside and a full bladder is threatening to empty with every step. If there is anyone out there who has an idea of how to run 26.2 miles and not be bored out of your mind, I would love to hear it. I was hoping that I could just stop my mind for a while and just run, but unfortunately, I still find a way to see a little piece of Mt. Everest in every hill.
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