Saturday, January 15, 2011

Running Vs Racing, Gabrielle Vs Hill

Before this morning's Running Spot group run, one of the coaches talked to us about "running a marathon" versus "racing a marathon."  While many people  strive to just finish a marathon, she encouraged us to consider racing the marathon in order to finish within a specific time frame.  There are those who run marathons and those that race them, she said.

I'm so glad I'm not a racer.

Marathoning for me isn't about a certain pace or crossing the finish line within a defined amount of hours and minutes.  I embrace being a back-of-the-packer.  I jokingly ask, "If slow and steady wins the race, then how come I don't have any 1st place certificates or medals hanging on my wall?"  I also love the t-shirts that I see at race expos which state, "Slow is the New Fast." 

I could be a racer.  I could train harder, I could eat better, I could work fastidiously to improve my stride and running mechanics and hence shave valuable seconds off my time.  But for me, that would take all the fun out of running.  (Yes, I did say running is FUN.) 

~~~~~

The Running Spot group has two locations for group runs: The "Ohio" group meets at Crossroads or at the O'Bryonville store, and the "Kentucky" group meets at the Newport store.  Runners can choose from week to week from which location they would like to run.  We got an email yesterday detailing the routes for each location.  While the Ohio route looked tame by comparison, the Kentucky group was running up to the top of Devou Park, which is a 694 ft. climb (check out the elevation profile here).  This hill is a beast, and it almost scared me enough to wimp out and go run with the Ohio group this morning.  Last year, when we did the same run, that stupid hill defeated me--I had to walk the last little bit of it--so I was determined to conquer the whole thing running it this year. 

So how did I do?  I kicked that hill's ass!  Today, I am proud of my running ability.  I may not ever be a racer.  I may not ever receive an award for my speediness, I may not ever even acheive some elusive time goal. But today, I battled a hill, and I won.  (And it was FUN.)

1 comment:

krzy4nr said...

Gabi, we are going with the words "we sure licked dem der hills" or as Ceasar would say "Veni Vidi Vici", I came, I saw and I conquered. You did all of the above today. Good Job!