Last week I was at Dick's sporting goods perusing the energy shots (used by runners during long runs to sustain energy) when another shopper asked me if I was a runner. I had no idea how to respond... am I? What makes someone a runner? While I was contemplating if I actually was a runner he followed up with his next question asking about where he, an out of towner, could do a long run. Thankfully that was a question that I could answer.
The lakes.
When I began training for the marathon, I anticipated that I would be changing up my running routes every week, but instead I keep adding to the same route.
Run down Lyndale to Minnehaha pkwy to the Lake Harriet, Calhoun and Isles. Every time the Minnehaha trail opens up to the South end of lake harriet, I feel a little jolt of excitement and it reminds me why I love this city.
I've been pondering the running question for the last week and as I get less and less afraid of my long runs, I think I am in fact a runner. When I ran my first 5K (just 3 years ago) I wasn't nervous because I knew that no matter what, I would be able to finish 3 miles. When I started running distances I hadn't even thought about running before, I was always a little nervous, because I might not finish. The farthest I had run before this training was 6 miles, and I had been untrained and didn't enjoy it. I'm pretty sure as I was finishing that race I told myself I was never running a 10K again. That was the last race I ran before the 1/2 marathon earlier this month. It's good to see that with some consistency running becomes enjoyable.
If you're in the MPLS area, come cheer me on, on October 4th.
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