Finished

Five years ago today, I ran Dallas' White Rock Marathon. The marathon probably wasn't as memorable as the training schedule I went through for the year leading up to the race. I learned the following things while logging some 8,500 miles of running:

1. Running long distances on a regular basis causes the average human to lose a whole lot of weight. I dropped 30 pounds --- weight I really couldn't spare to lose at the time.

2. By the time you work yourself up to 15 miles, chafing becomes a big issue. Vasiline must be applied to various friction points on the body and tape on the nipples become neccesary. Otherwise, you'll become a bloody mess.

3. After pushing the hell out of yourself, cranking up your heart rate and sweating profusely, you get rewarded with a nice buzz after stopping.

4. Your mind will perform all kinds of acrobatics when you pound along a city street for mile after mile. To keep focused on something other than how much your lungs hurt, you start thinking of stupid random things, like the name of the girl who wet her pants during story time in the 3rd Grade. Her name was Lee Anne.

5. There are two kind of marathoners --- those who become addicted to them and those who will never do one again.

I was 33 years old when I ran the marathon. I can't even remember why I decided to do it. It had nothing to do with being 33, proving my manliness, or accomplishing some cliched life goal. It just seemed like something I could do. And the marathon actually came in handy. I went through a really bad breakup during the training. Beating the crap out of my body made the searing mental pain seem a little more managable.

I finished a fairly respectable 4 hours and 18 minutes, not bad for a slow white guy.

I've never run another marathon. I've done some long runs here and there, as recently as a few months ago. But I fear I've probably done some damage to my knees because of the obsessive training I endulged in five years ago.

I watched participants in the 2005 White Rock Marathon run past my house this morning. I felt nothing.