Marathon Mom?

Today, three of my boys and I went to their first racing expo. They were super excited and enjoyed their new shirts for the race. Colin is ready to run a marathon and told anyone advertising for marathon that they should allow him to run because he's the fastest in the family. Unlike their mother, these boys are positive that they can run a marathon and that their mom can run one too. I, on the other hand have some serious doubts that a marathon is going to be possible.

In a room full of runners, there were many people that thought I could run a marathon, but when the alarm goes off at five am, or the migraine has taken hold to such an effect that every step reverberates in your head, or your adorable children are having a fist fight in the car, those runners are long gone! Don't get me wrong, I have a very supportive family that cheers me on at races and willingly will let me have a couple hours for a ten mile run. My family has even been known to ride their bikes while I run/walk/crawl long runs and always has a coke ready for recovery! The family has great faith that I can run 26.2 miles in 2013.

The distances alone is overwhelming. There was a shirt at the expo that said "26.2 what could go wrong?" Then there was a list on the back of the shirt that gave ten very real possibilities of what could go wrong. There were some things missing on the list that run through my head, like what if my migraines don't cooperate long enough to get the long runs in. How about all those bone fragments in my ankle? Blisters? Cramps? Arthritis anyone? Three miles, six miles, hell even 13.1 miles doesn't seem that far, but 26.2 seems like a million miles.

I'd like to think that I can get around the time commitments for training, the medical issues and the self doubt by committing to a training team for charity. Then I contemplate the fact that I can't find a training team for something other than cancer. It's not that I don't believe that people should raise money for cancer. Lots of good things have happened because people have raised lots of money for cancer research and support. Also, I have friends that have had cancer and my father died in his forties of cancer, so it's not like I don't have reasons or attachment to raising money for cancer, but running for cancer just... Well my heart really isn't in it. If I'm running a marathon for a cause, I want to draw attention to the fact that disability or epilepsy or chronic migraine does not have to limit you in finishing a marathon. I've spent hours looking for a team in training for arthritis, epilepsy, brain disorders, or education.

So here I sit, contemplating my 2013 racing season, wanting to run my first marathon and not sure how to make that happen. Most of the people around me think I can do it even if they don't know why I would want to. I have two books on marathon training and three different apps to assist in training. I have information on Team in Training for leukemia and several twitter and facebook friends who have run marathons. I have a supportive family and for the most part my body can still put one foot in front of the other. Hopefully my brain will stop with the self doubt and let my body accomplish something great other than the usual getting out of bed everyday!