Reaping Hard Work's Rewards

In the waning days of my 49th year, I am applying myself to running in a way I have never done with anything else before in my life. I talk with my kids frequently about how they will improve at [fill in the blank] if they practice. But impatience, innate talent, and age have made me skeptical about my own ability to improve as a runner. These last weeks and months are making me a believer.

When I state that I have never really fully applied myself, it sounds a bit ridiculous considering that I'm a mom and CEO with a master's degree and lots of interests who has qualified several times for the Boston Marathon.

The difference, though, is one of focus. Running. That's all. For a little over five years I have been putting on my running shoes and heading out the door. For five years I have been training and racing fairly regularly. I'm not doing anything today that is very much different than what I did five years ago. I'm thinking more about it and reading and running with other people and talking, lots of talking. I wear higher tech fabrics than I did my first year and my socks cost more. I have a team and a coach and lots of running friends (mostly so we can talk about running without watching our non-running friends' eyes glaze over). 

But out there on the trails and parks and streets, I'm still just running. And somehow, the repetition has made me a "better runner." I'm not much faster yet. But I am oh so much wiser and my body more often knows just what to do. The found wisdom mostly serves to remind me how much there is still to learn. It also points me in the direction I need to go next. The five years of running and running and running gives me the perspective to never make a decision while on a hill.

In my easy five mile run in the park today I played a game I often do, picking out the runners who have made the full-on running commitment. You can tell by looking at them as they pass. They move with more ease and joy. They are no longer trying to convince their minds and bodies that running is good for them. Running has become a bright spot, a joy in their days.

If I were watching from above, I would identify myself as one of those runners. In the thick of fall marathon training, I feel strong and lean. My lungs, even after I have stopped moving, are bigger, more able to hold the required increase in oxygen. I glide.

One month from today I will turn 50. On my last day of 49 I will run my first trail race, a 10K in Pennsylvania. The next morning I will wake and go for an already planned long run. Not what some would consider celebrating, but to me it is oddly perfect and for that I am thankful.