Love it: Half Marathons

I started out by running 1/26th marathons in high school gym class. As fulfilling as those 3.5 laps around the track were as I overlapped an old woman doing walking arm workouts, saying “I just ran a 1/26th marathon” didn’t have the right ring to it. I wanted to run something that sounded impressive. Thus, I have landed on the half marathon, or as I call it “the mara”, as the answer to my problems. Imagine: when I talk about it all the time, people widen their eyes, let out an involuntary gasp, and think: “God, I wish I could be like her. For so many reasons, but mainly because of this running thing.”

However, my journey to loving the mara was not a straight path. Nor was it circular around a track. It was more like running on a treadmill but also having to avoid obstacles at the same time. For a while, I admit, I was misguided. The solution at first seemed clear—all bad ideas are at first, like actually doing the reading for section or writing about not doing the reading for section. I thought I would run a full, 1/1 marathon. However, do you know the story of what happened to the first person who ran a marathon? Well I do. The first step to running a marathon is reading about the history of marathons. The guy collapsed and died. First time I tried to run a 1/1 marathon, same thing happened to me. The only full marathon I’m okay with is one that involves Law and Order SVU and back massages from my mom, Alice.

This evidence leads me to my conclusion: the mara, i.e. the 2/4th marathon, the 300/600 marathon, is the perfect combination of feasible and impressive. I’m often asked if I’m a glass half full or half empty person. My answer: I’m a marathon half run kind of person. Figure out what that means while I continue running because I’ve got places to go. You’re welcome that I stopped at all. Running half marathons makes me twice the person.