What’s with everyone running marathons or half-marathons? Seems like everyone I know is taking part in one of these two types of events. Used to be only the serious runners ran any type of marathon or maybe someone, trying to cross something off their bucket list, ran. Now everyone is into them. Except me.

Last year my friend Claire ran the Marine Corp marathon. It was her first marathon. I didn’t really know how long a marathon should take but 6-8 hours seemed reasonable. Not because I thought she’s be slow but because she was running 26+ miles, for goodness sake.  I signed up for notifications so I’d know where she was during the race. After the second one I realized that maybe it wouldn’t take that long. When I finally got her final time, I was floored. It was a great time. I was talking to a running fanatic at work the next day and he told me if she took off 20 minutes from her time, she’d qualify for the Boston Marathon.  That’s pretty damn impressive.

The other day at lunch I was talking to two running fanatics and one of them, having just completed a 24 hour relay race (can we all agree that’s CRAZY?) was complaining how middle-aged women who do the Avon 3 day walk for cancer get overconfident and sign up for these crazy races.  I’m a middle aged woman who did the 3 day walk and somehow I missed the calling.

When I got back to my desk, I found the most ridiculous trail race I could find and sent it to him with the note “I walked to and from the bathroom twice today without getting winded. I think I’m ready for this.” He thinks I’m a riot but included a note about how tough that race can be. Yeah, like I would even consider it.

Saturday night I’m out with friends – one I know to be a runner and the other, big surprise, just completed his first marathon. They were making plans to meet at 7am to go for a run. Hope they had fun – I was still sleeping when they finished.

Run, my friends, run. I’m proud of you.  I’m glad to be your cheerleader. Glad to donate when you run for a good cause. Hope you cross the marathon off your bucket list soon so you can sit back and relax with me.