What Happens When A Normal Person Runs A Marathon

I love pizza. I think fitness is stupid. So why am I preparing for my fourth marathon?

I always thought people that ran marathons were either crazy or stupid. Why would you voluntarily subject yourself to 26.2 miles of pain?

But a few years back my dad started running them (because that is what you do when you get older and start to realize what an important role fitness plays in your life expectancy, right?) and I ended up tagging along to one of his races in Santa Clarita, CA. I tell you what - if you are ever having a day where you need your faith in humanity restored, hang out at the finish line of a marathon. People cry. People cheer. Little kids run across the finish lines with their moms.

So I decided to try just one race, the Atlanta Marathon. The goal was to finish. I survived, finishing a little under 6 hours. The people volunteering and cheering were the best part.

It took me a little over a year of training to run that first race. But the part that gets you, with many things in life, is you feel like once it is all over that you can do better. You KNOW you can do better. What if you just drank a little less? Or didn't skip all those runs the week that you just COULDN'T face the gym for another session? So I signed up for the Montreal Marathon. What could be cooler than visiting a city I'd never been to before AND seeing it in a way that you can only experience from running through it before the sun rises while locals scream encouragement at you?

Last year I signed up for the LA marathon by myself, the first time I ran without my dad. I finished. Not nearly as much fun when you don't have someone to talk to the whole time and make smart remarks to - runners are funny people. Some participants get REALLY serious about the whole thing. I understand if you are an Elite runner like Dennis Kimetto who just finished the Berlin Marathon in 2 hours. But as the popularity of running as a sport has increased the last few decades, the more normal folks you see on the course. My favorite is the people who can't be bothered waiting in line for the Port-A-Potty so just cop a squat where ever. Is it that serious?

I'm now in the process of starting to train for my fourth marathon which I hope will be the Tokyo Marathon next February. It is one of the six world marathon majors, which essentially means it is ridiculously popular and very tough to get a bid to run. 1 in 10 people who apply to run the race get a spot (my dad was one of the lucky ones). But here I am, trying to raise enough money for charity to get to enter.

And I keep asking myself, who am I? Am I really this person who commits to showing up at the gym everyday for 6 months? Am I really going to give up drinking this time? At least I am certain that while I'm training I can eat more pizza.