Things you shouldn't do with your friends.
Move in together.
Sell a house/car/bike to.
Train for a race with.
(There are, of course, exceptions to these rules, but you have to search hard for them.)
So, I have now run 2 half marathons and am training for the 10 mile Broad St run. After each one I swear to myself that I will not do any crazy such thing again. Not because I can't do it, but because I am tired of people talking me into it and then quitting. Think of how pissed I get when people promise to do go to an event with me and then bail. Now imagine that anger building slowly through every missed training, through every flimsy excuse. This isn't just a missed night out on the town. This is WEEKS of preparation. It's just too much for a Beka to take.
At the start of every training season, there is usually one, sometimes 2 or 3, that say "Wow! That looks so awesome! I can totally do that! Let's sign up." And so, being naive, I agree. I think that their enthusiasm will somehow overcome the lack of dedication. Nope. Usually it starts off rather well, the first week or 2 is good, then inevitably, the "injuries" set in. I'm not saying that the injuries aren't real. But I'm saying that the reason for the injuries is not because your body can't run 5, 10, 13 miles. It's because you are stupid. And there are some really smart stupid people out there.
Let's go oldschool, ok? Your body is made up of (among other things) muscles. Muscles, unfortunately, can't do much more than they're accustomed to. So, when you haven't run for months, then ran maybe twice, took the whole next week off, then decided to get back to training and do 5 times the distance (or even better, 5 times the speed), don't expect your body to agree. If you repeat this cycle, your body is going to disagree so much that yes, it's going to break.
I'm not a fast runner, and that is not an attempt at modesty. Slow and steady is my motto. Both of my half marathons came in around 11 minute miles. My typical run pace is actually a jog. But I'm ok with that. And I have met enough not-runners doing these races to know that people a lot worse off have finished them without whining like 2 year old children.
Now you're all remembering what a bitch I can be. But I've given up on trying to be anything other than what I am, at least for today.
Sell a house/car/bike to.
Train for a race with.
(There are, of course, exceptions to these rules, but you have to search hard for them.)
So, I have now run 2 half marathons and am training for the 10 mile Broad St run. After each one I swear to myself that I will not do any crazy such thing again. Not because I can't do it, but because I am tired of people talking me into it and then quitting. Think of how pissed I get when people promise to do go to an event with me and then bail. Now imagine that anger building slowly through every missed training, through every flimsy excuse. This isn't just a missed night out on the town. This is WEEKS of preparation. It's just too much for a Beka to take.
At the start of every training season, there is usually one, sometimes 2 or 3, that say "Wow! That looks so awesome! I can totally do that! Let's sign up." And so, being naive, I agree. I think that their enthusiasm will somehow overcome the lack of dedication. Nope. Usually it starts off rather well, the first week or 2 is good, then inevitably, the "injuries" set in. I'm not saying that the injuries aren't real. But I'm saying that the reason for the injuries is not because your body can't run 5, 10, 13 miles. It's because you are stupid. And there are some really smart stupid people out there.
Let's go oldschool, ok? Your body is made up of (among other things) muscles. Muscles, unfortunately, can't do much more than they're accustomed to. So, when you haven't run for months, then ran maybe twice, took the whole next week off, then decided to get back to training and do 5 times the distance (or even better, 5 times the speed), don't expect your body to agree. If you repeat this cycle, your body is going to disagree so much that yes, it's going to break.
I'm not a fast runner, and that is not an attempt at modesty. Slow and steady is my motto. Both of my half marathons came in around 11 minute miles. My typical run pace is actually a jog. But I'm ok with that. And I have met enough not-runners doing these races to know that people a lot worse off have finished them without whining like 2 year old children.
Now you're all remembering what a bitch I can be. But I've given up on trying to be anything other than what I am, at least for today.
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