26.2 = Marathon!
Now in the "in" crowd
By Thea Shoemaker 06/19/2008
I’m a marathoner! Yep, that’s me. Sunday, June 1, I completed my very first one, the Rock ’n’ Roll Marathon in San Diego. I’ve earned bragging rights! Those in the know say that when you cross the finish line, your life will be changed forever. They’re right; I can honestly say that I feel changed. I learned more about myself the past few months training for this race than I have in the 38 years I’ve been on this Earth.
But I also learned other things like:
You need to be careful about who you talk to about training for something like a marathon. I actually had one gal tell me that “marathoners don’t walk/run.” She said it’s frowned upon, and I shouldn’t do it unless I run it. I thought it was a strange thing to say, especially since the walk/run program that I followed was designed by a world-class Olympian marathoner. He created this type of system after running many marathons, only to discover it’s less harmful on the body and you can actually increase your time by taking very short walk breaks. I didn’t let the woman’s words discourage me: I brushed it off. During the race, I found more than half of the people I saw took walk breaks.
I also learned that in the grand scheme of things, stuff like wind, a little rain, a crabby co-worker, etc. don’t matter! If you don’t go for a walk or run because of the weather or because you let someone get you down, you’re the one who suffers. If you persevere, you’ll always come out on top and feel better about yourself.
The race itself was amazing, even just for the diversity of its participants. More than 20,000 people young and old, skinny and not-so-skinny, missing legs, dressed like Elvis, or raising money for a cure for the disease that took their babies were running this race.
I think my favorite part of the entire race was all the support from the community. The residents of San Diego are awesome. People came out just to watch us run by. They cheered us on, handed us water and sliced oranges, and hosed us down to cool off. It was really obvious to us marathoners how proud everyone was to be there and see us running.
The Teams in Training for leukemia made such a strong showing, it was one of the greatest things I’ve seen yet. The coaches and veteran teams came out with balloons and horns, shouting motivating and supportive words. I saw some coaches running and walking with the contestants, cheering them on and telling them “You can do it!”
It amazed me how beneficial kind and supportive words are when you are pushing yourself so hard in a time like this. There were definitely times in the marathon that the people’s cheers kept me going.
I will never forget the whole marathon experience, from the training all the way down to the race. It’s such an absolutely personal accomplishment that only some will understand. You deserve to feel this good about yourself, so why don’t you try it?
Remember … you’re worth it!F
Thea Shoemaker, CPT, is the owner of TS Fitness Systems, a personal training business located in the Oxnard beach community. Contact Thea by phone (805) 985-7867 or e-mail
ts_fitness_systems@yahoo.com, or visit her on the Web at www.tsfit nesssystems.com.
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