Marathon Tele-Training

My best friend Tamara and I have been training to run the Salt Lake City Marathon on April 18th for a while now.  Like most friends, we push each other to excel and support each other through all of life’s roadblocks, potholes and whatever other figurative street images you can think of that express challenges.  So it was natural when Tamara expressed interest in running the marathon that I wanted to run it too and train with her.  Can you think of a more strenuous test of friendship? There was just one little problem – Tamara and I live in different states!  Thank goodness for the “information age” because we have managed to train together as if we were next-door neighbors.  Everyday we communicate via phone, text and e-mail (if there were still carrier pigeons, I’m sure we’d use that method too).  We swap articles on marathon first-timers, express our fears, discuss our caloric intake and leg pains, and we ask each other how we turned into such masochists. When one of us starts the “psyching herself out” game, the other quickly swoops in with words of encouragement. I know this sounds like an after school special, so I’ll get to my point.

Neither Tamara nor I fit your stereotypical archetype of a marathon runner since we both have the propensity to put on weight — something we work hard to keep in check.  But Tamara has never been one of those girls who stick to what’s easy or what’s expected of her.  That sort of perseverance is inspiring and contagious.

When I was in high school I couldn’t finish a mile in under 15 minutes. I couldn’t even run the whole thing.  This was embarrassing!  Naturally, I developed a disdain for running and saw it as an insurmountable task.  But when Tamara started running a few years ago, and I had regained some of my health, I began to wonder if my disdain for running was just a defense mechanism (since we sometimes develop disdain for things we think we can’t do well).  Encouraging me to run with her one day, I agreed and we ran three miles.  I was slow, it was hard, and it felt like eternity.  But it was exhilarating.  Pan forward to today and we just clocked in our 16-mile training run (boy did our conversations about that contain some expletives!).

Tamara recently told me she was running the marathon for her son and for a friend going through a rough time.  When she asked me whom I was running for, I couldn’t think of anyone to run this for better than the old me!  I know it sounds like I’m incapable of thinking outside of my selfish little bubble, and maybe I am, but c’mon!  The girl I used to be would never in a million years think she’d be capable of running a marathon.  So, call me what you will, I’m running this for me!

End of Hallmark Special.  I’ll go back to being cranky now!

Tags: friendship, marathon, marathon first-timer, marathon training, running, Salt Lake City