I’ve been listening to a new podcast, Marathon Training Academy, and really loving it. It’s a husband and wife team. She’s the more “serious” runner, but he holds his own and they do great interviews and super fun race reports. This morning I caught up on a podcast from last year that was an interview with Tom Foreman, a CNN reporter who has written a new book about running, “A Year of Running Dangerously”. He certainly ran A LOT completing multiple marathons and ultras. Here’s what I found interesting – During one of his ultras, he found himself doubting whether he was a “real runner” despite having completely 5 marathons in 5 days and despite being in the middle of a 50 mile race. He STILL thought, oh that guy up ahead of me, he’s the real runner. He worked through that and finished, of course.
But it made me wonder – maybe there is something about running that is so physically challenging that it makes us doubt ourselves, no matter what. Maybe the thought “I’m not a real runner” is actually a sign that we ARE real runners. Because we are working hard enough to trigger that feeling of doubt. And that hard work comes on the first day of Couch to 5K just like it came to Tom Foreman in the middle of his ultra. “Real running” is just putting one foot in front of the other somewhere faster than walking, but maybe we can recognize ourselves as real runners in the very doubt of whether we have earned that label. Feeling philosophical this morning I guess!
I totally agree – I think having doubt is part of what makes someone a runner. I think it was in “What I Talk About When I Talk About Running” that I read it…or maybe elsewhere…but yes, that feeling of being a fraud or not being quite what you think you should be seems universal to runners!
…And to adults in general, now that I think of it.
I can’t wait to hear about how your marathon goes this weekend!