I Coulda Been a Contender

There were exactly 4 Olympic sports in Beijing that I did as a kid. Yes, I competed in these events enough to feel that I could, you know, relate to the Olympians on the screen. These sports were, in order of age that they first appeared my life, gymnastics, swimming, diving and track. During the games I would nod sagely as a rely fumbled a batan pass during a track race, and maybe even comment, "those passes are so important. I remember practicing them for hours when I did the 4 by 100. Timing needs to be perfect." I had many such comments for all of these 4 sports, and while you may glean I am making fun of myself, I did truly relate! I did! One can't spend hours doing an interval workout in the pool or on the track and not feel some...similarities. The husband was very patient during these times, only raising an eyebrow here and there to show he wasn't entirely on board with my own athletic glory days. But then one day, I uttered, with confidence, that I could have been an Olympic diver with the right dedication and coaching. The husband balked. I still maintain it was possible. I mean, the truth was I wasn't fast enough for swimming and track, and gymnastics--I was way over the hill when I began. But diving, with the gymnastics history and some good coaching, I swear I had a chance. I tried to say that all I needed was dedication, even starting the sport sort of old. Husband pointed out that the little Chinese girl was 16. I pointed out the American was 30. Eventually, we came to a stand still. Husband refused to buy that I could have been an Olympian with a little elbow grease.

Why tell this story? Because here I am engaging, again, in my own legend in my mind activity of training for a half marathon. Unfortunately, I've been running for so long that I know exactly how much training I need to do to finish the race (it's amazing how half-assed "training" can be). But because I've been a runner for so long, I still manage to spout nauseating self-righteous comments like, "no one understands the world of a runner, except other runners...." This is usually after I have been obsessing about how I am going to get my "long" run in and have said about 400 times to the husband, "but whatever we do, I need to get my long run in because it's important for my training to do my long runs...."

So. I manage to maybe run once a week in addition to my "long" run on the weekends. I have finished two 9 mile runs, which puts me in better shape that the half marathon I ran after Q was born. As long as I get a few more long runs in before October 5, the day of the event, I should be ok. We'll see.

When you are an athlete of a caliber like myself, a near Olympic athlete, one can never tell how it is all going to go.....