There is no “just” in half marathon

While I was at the Ottawa Race Weekend Health and Fitness Expo, I got to do one of my favourite things: talk to other runners about running.  Now, runners tend to be a self-deprecating bunch, and generally, I like that about us.  We don’t tend to act superior to non-runners, and are very supportive and encouraging of one another.

There are limits though.

Naturally, I was asking people, “What event are you running this weekend?”

If I had a loonie for every person who began their answer with “Just the…” or “Only the…” I could buy a boatload of new running shoes.  It is great to be polite and all, but folks, there is no “just the half marathon” or “only the 5K.”

See, that works in video games: “Oh, I am only on level 10, but my friend has made it to level 15!”

Or eating contests: “I only managed to eat 46 hotdogs while the winner ate a hundred!”

Or even Twitter followers: “I only have 12,000 followers, but Weird Al has over 2 million!”

But running events are not hierarchical like that.  While you may build up your mileage to handle longer distances, running events are not like levels in a game that you progress through.  And running a longer event doesn’t make someone a better runner than someone who is running a shorter event.  I am probably the best example I can think of: I’ve run marathons but that doesn’t mean I am good at it, and there are WAY better (by better I don’t necessarily mean faster, but that’s a whole other post) runners than me who’ve chosen not to run marathons.

Each event stands independently of the others.  You train way differently for a 5K than for a marathon.  I often find myself telling people that I do marathons because I don’t like pain enough to train for 5Ks.

It could be a reference group issue.  When you go to the expo, you are comparing yourself to other runners.  In the case of Ottawa, it’s 40,999 other runners, which can seem like a really big group of people.  But if you pick a different reference group, say, Everyone, you’ll see that you’re in a really elite subgroup of the group Everyone.  A good chunk of Everyone is still in bed when you get up early in the morning to churn out the mileage.  Huge numbers of Everyone are inactive while you’re out doing speed work.  And a really large percentage of Everyone, likely the vast majority, are sitting on the couch while you’re only racing a 5K or just running a half marathon.  I know some of the people I called on this were comparing themselves to themselves, saying that they had originally signed up for this or that, but had to drop to the other due to injury or whatever.  But you’re still out there and you’re still running and it is not a defeat or a regression to run some other event!

But I digress.  My point is, there is no only, or just about it. You are running the 5K, or the 10K, or the half marathon, or the marathon.  You don’t need to be self-deprecating about it, and you don’t need to make excuses.

Run it.  Own it. Because it’s all yours.