Twas The Night Before A Marathon…

Twas the night before a marathon, and all through the house;
Not a carb left uneaten, not even the giant pile of spaghetti, stacks of toast, or bagels with peanut butter.

It’s true. It’s now the night before the Vancouver Marathon and it’s time for our last pre-race “meal” (read: not a banana). As the marathon nerves creep in (don’t worry, still converting them to fuel!) I can’t help but reflect on the road that gets a runner to this point. Hours on the roads and trails running our asses off; dollars spent on racing fuels, hydration powders, proteins, apparel and equipment; sacrifices to our family and social lives. The list goes on. But what do we have to show for it?

Well, to put it simply, the ability to do something not everyone on this planet can do. It’s pretty cool! And the best part, ANYONE can do it, you just have to CHOOSE to do it! I don’t care how fat you are, how lazy you are, or how much you hate running. You can do it. I promise. It takes some commitment and perseverance, but it’s possible.

Why am I getting all preachy? Well, one of my friends who travelled up here to run their very first half-marathon, told me a story about her trip up. They took the train from Seattle to Vancouver to avoid the traffic and to be able to kick back and enjoy the trip. (It’s well worth the $37 with gorgeous views the entire trek!) On the train, there was a group of older seasoned runners also making the train trip up from Seattle. Their conversation turned to running marathons and my friend chimed in with, “Oh, are you guys running the Vancouver this weekend? So am I!”. The group of runners looked at my friend, confirmed their running it, and turned back to their conversation. At that point, the conversation turned to how fat people shouldn’t be running marathons and how the Boston marathon was fantastic, etc etc.

You know what, fuck you bitches. Fuck you. I don’t care how old you are, how many marathons you’ve completed or how fast you ran them. I don’t care if you’ve qualified for Boston, finished an Ironman or completed the WS100. Don’t you dare say who can or cannot run a marathon. Running is absolutely one of the most accessible sports open to any person who desires to do it. And if someone spends 6 months training for a marathon, they have just as much a right to run it as you do – regardless of size, shape, skill, ability. I hope I see these runners on the course so I can kick the back of their knees and watch them fall into a hydration table. Fuckity fuck fuck.

My friend is going to run her ASS off in the half-marathon tomorrow. I’m going to run my ass off in the full marathon tomorrow. And you know what, more than 14,998 other people are going to do the same thing. We make up a community of like-minded fitness pursuers. We are all in the same boat tomorrow and I hope each and every person gets a personal record. We are runners, one and the same.

Train hard. Race harder. Party hardest.

By the way, our dinner was delicious!