Half

This past Sunday I ran a half marathon. It wasn’t my first and hopefully not my last. It was the first to take place entirely in the rain so in some ways it wasn’t the greatest of situations but to be honest it wasn’t that bad. I mean once you get completely soaked and your extremities go numb you don’t really even notice it.

I’m not a runner although I’d like to be. I’m old and not very fast. That’s pretty much all I have going for me running wise. I don’t think God wants me to run either. Usually a day or two before or after a race I’ll get a stress fracture in one leg (or both). Once I also fell down on a run and broke my arm. I know I lack the mental strength to run. You need to be able to fight through the constant flow from your brain that is telling you so stop. My brain begins to tell me to stop the moment I wake up each morning.

There is an adrenaline rush from finishing a run. I will admit to that. I don’t think it last long enough though to make running worth it since it usually takes me about 45 minutes to get my shoes unlaced after a run so the euphoria from running is long gone once I finally get my shoes off. The medals you get from running are pretty cool though. But to be honest you don’t get the admiration you deserve when you wear your medals out in public, like at the grocery store etc, that you should. I keep wearing them though.

Even with the poor weather this time and with my socks slipping on my feet about 3 steps into the run leaving my ankles to rub up against my wet shoes producing blisters on each foot the size of the Grand Canyon, I’ve already started thinking about my next race. It will probably be in April. Surely the feet have healed by then and if not, they will probably eventually go numb.