Let the Training Begin

Maybe I should have considered a 5k or 1 mile run before the half marathon. I went to the gym on Friday totally determined to start "small"and breeze through 3 miles of running with no problem. Ha ha ha. I finished 3 miles all right, but it took some time... like an hour. Damn!

My friends Ashley and Marissa who run marathons as often as I eat ice cream like to tell me that anyone can run a marathon or any kind of race if they try. I'll give them that. I like to think that with enough effort and determination, people can pull off some extraordinary feats. However, I also think that it is a human tendency to believe that the tasks we are personally good at are easier than others.

Each of us is biologically predisposed to be better at certain types of tasks. For example, Paul is constantly inventing things and thinking about how to make the world and everything around him better. I happen to be freakishly good at remembering people's names when I meet them. I also love and am good at making friends and learning languages. Marissa and Ashley, among other things, are really good at running. This is not to say that no effort or perseverance is involved in any of these tasks, but they are abilities that come more naturally to us.

While I may be able to discuss the effects of the media on body image in Spanish and tell you the name of every person I have met since the fifth grade, I will probably never be a great runner. I started to think about this and I couldn't help but wonder (here comes my Carrie Bradshaw moment), should we stick to developing our natural abilities and leave the hard stuff to someone else or should we put on our running shoes and run against the wind towards something further outside of our reach?