Spirit of the Marathon

I haven't felt well for the last few days and it's been windy and cold, so I decided to wuss it up again and run my miles on the treadmill again today.  I worked a day shift at the hospital so I came home, changed into my running clothes, explained (aka made excuses) to Gary why I couldn't run outside, and then I headed to the basement.

We finally have a tv down there, but since we don't have cable hooked up to it, my options are to either watch something boring on tv or to find something to watch on demand on Netflix.  Honestly, there seem to be not too many options on Netflix.  I thought about watching Hot Tub Time Machine but I figured since I have the volume up super high and the kids were home, that might not be a good idea.  I've stayed away from some of the many documentaries that we have in the queue because I thought they wouldn't hold my attention, but decided to give one of them a try this afternoon for my 10 miles.

Spirit of the Marathon seemed like the perfect choice.  Why not watch a movie about running while I was running?

It turned out to be awesome!  Although, I do have some added fears about running the marathon that I didn't have before, so maybe it wasn't totally awesome.  It was inspiring and I think that anyone who is a runner, no matter how fast or slow, would find some benefit from watching the movie.  It follows 6 different people (2 elite runners, 4 ordinary people) as they train for the Chicago Marathon.

After watching the movie I can say this.  I am still afraid to run a marathon.

People die running marathons.  People aren't always able to finish the marathon.  People hit the wall and have legs of lead while running a marathon.  And again, people DIE running marathons.


BUT...

People cry really hard when they finish because they are so proud of themselves.  (I know I will!)
People push themselves and overcome adversities when they didn't think they were able.

People finish marathons and are stronger than when they started.

So my 10 mile run today wasn't perfect, or incredibly fast, or even outside... Those things don't matter and I don't need to worry about it.  I am stronger at this very instant than I was before I started running this afternoon.  And as long as I keep pushing myself and learning more about myself as I train, I will come out ahead.

Just as long as I don't die trying.  :)