How Marathons Are Like Childbirth

I ran my first half marathon Saturday.  And maybe my last.  Maybe not.  It's like childbirth.  You can't really decided if you'll do it again until you totally forget all of the pain involved.  One day I'll think "Hey, that was awesome when I ran that half marathon!  I think I'll do that again."

The Husband is probably thrilled the race is over (I use the word 'race' loosely...I do not run at race pace...more parade or fun run speed).  Training for a marathon, half or full, takes up a lot of time.  I did two or three short runs during the week and a long run most weekends.  This, along with regular workouts three times a week, is time consuming!  What am I going to do with all of my extra time now??  I can hear my husband as I type this...how's about some laundry?  Point taken.

I tried to share my goals with the kids.  I told them all through out my training why I was running so much.  I kissed them goodbye on race day and Middle Child said "I hope you win Mommy!"  Such a sweet boy.  Naive, but sweet.  To him, speed is relative. 

Now The Third Grader is fascinated with running.  He wants to do a 5k.  He wants to run a full marathon when he's older.  He wants me to be there.  I will be...not running, but cheering.  He keeps asking what a marathon looks like.  I tell him to run from the coffee shop (yes, that's the center of my world, so let's start there) to church and back again THREE TIMES and then run to our house.  Yikes.  He's thinking about it.  He asked if I could start training him today.  I said no since my feet are still throbbing.

I saw a lot of funny signs during the race.  My two favorites were:

Run, Random Stranger, Run!!!

Chuck Norris never ran a marathon!

The guy with the giant silver hand on a yard stick for high-fiving was also pretty hilarious. 

I loved seeing the special needs runners do the relay using their walkers, wheelchairs or helpers.  It was inspirational to watch a 90 year old lady run the half marathon...except that she passed me.  I did not see him, but I heard that one guy ran the whole race while dribbling a basketball.  I think the runners around him started to hate him after a while.

I've spent months training and now it's over.  I feel like I should still be running.  There's a little hole in my life.  As soon as my running partner crossed the finish line and grabbed her medal she sighed and said "I'm NEVER doing another one of those again!  It's over!"  I kind of agreed but in the back of my mind I was thinking "Wellllll, we'll see about that.  Maybe I can talk you into another."  We met at the coffee shop today, where all marathons start, and she said "You know.  We know how to train for this.  We could really improve our times.  There are other cities that have marathons with a flat route..." 

It had barely been 24 hours since we crossed the finish line.  I told you it's like childbirth.  How soon we forget!