I have always known that doing a marathon was definitely not something very easy, but still so many times I just thought I would once do it once, without even training that much, just to say I did it. I definitely underestimated the whole thing.
Here’s what I have learned from my roommate training for a marathon (and how I have come to understand that I won’t do it myself).
1. It doesn’t matter how tired or busy you are, if that’s the day where you have to run you’ve got to run anyways.
Being determined and committed is one of the first steps to doing a marathon. You have to be ready to wake up in the early morning to run if you know that you won’t have time during the day; you have to be organized and plan your training in advance and respect it. Well, in my case I respect people who are able to do this.
2. What matters is also what you eat.
This means that basically anything yummy must be avoided and even if you end up eating a lot of food because otherwise you would collapse while training, it is all bars, nuts, shakes and definitely no muffins or ice-cream (my favorite things in the world). But it also matters what you drink! This means no alcohol and no heavy partying on weekends.
3. This last point brings us directly to the next one: by running this much and caring about your diet you end up burning a lot of fat.
This means that you can show off your healthy body to your roommate who has been sitting the whole time while you were burning 2000 calories. Maybe this is actually why she is training?
4. Stretching becomes your best friend.
Talking on the phone with someone, watching TV, or doing homework become secondary actions while you stretch, because your body would actually breakdown if you don’t do this every 10 seconds.
5. Having a goal is not enough; you also have to work to achieve it.
Even if this really did seem easy to me (since I’m accustomed to commit to what I want), the fact that I have told my roommate I would go running with her many times but end up finding a last minute excuse clearly shows that between saying and doing there’s a long way to go.
Lastly, even though I will probably never do a marathon, I have learned to admire anyone who does, immensely. I myself work hard on everything I do, yet the effort that training for a marathon takes for months and months every single day makes me understand that whoever does it deserves respect, way beyond people like me who are able to commit to avoid sweets (but not on the weekends), or to study for an exam (during the day but then go out at night).
