Reaching the Finish Swine
If I were to tell freshman self that in less than two years time I would run a marathon, I'm sure my freshman self would deny it. But in fact running this marathon meant more than covering 26.2 miles. I see it as a standing hallmark and concrete evidence of my emerging self.
I have to be honest: the whole idea of running a marathon was my girlfriend's idea. I agreed, however, and we had created a training regime for ourselves. Sophia had been recovering from a diagnosis of Celiac disease, an autoimmune disorder that flares up when she ingests wheat, barley, or rye. She had also suffered Achilles tendinitis in February, just one month after we started training. I had a very busy schedule between the RA position, the academic coaching position, 18 hours of science heavy classes, and volunteering. It would have been way too easy to make excuses.
The runs during training started out easy, but as the months passed by and the rest of life got more demanding, so did the training. The longest run was a hot and hilly twenty one miler. Not even this long run was particularly exhausting, but it was the constant running from day to day that wore me down. Starting runs became harder and harder to do, especially when I was still sore from yesterday's run. It would have been incredibly easy to work on homework or rest in lieu of running, but it all goes back to my personal integrity. I made myself a promise. This was what I wanted, even though it was not easy.
One thing training did for me was fine tune my time management skills. I had always handled time well, but never before had I been this busy (especially when I had to devote at least an hour a day to running alone). I didn't have time to waste time, so I didn't. Looking back I impressed myself with how I balanced all these aspects of my life. I always knew the relative time of day and I partitioned my time accordingly. These skills will benefit me once I'm in the workforce.
The day of the marathon, Sophia and I ran our best. We finished just over our goal of 4 hours at 4:03. Finishing the marathon made me physically exhausted (I slept for the rest of the day!), but by running it I realized that I can be ambitious. High school Nick would have been too "realistic," but the new Nick set out to run the whole marathon and did it. That in itself is something very important to me, and it's this ambition and confidence that has carried over to the rest of my life. What a great way to end junior year and open up the next phase of my life.
I still run, and I plan to keep running. I find it to be great stress relief and a way to stay healthy. But when asked why I run, I usually reply "I run because someday I know I wont be able to!"
I have to be honest: the whole idea of running a marathon was my girlfriend's idea. I agreed, however, and we had created a training regime for ourselves. Sophia had been recovering from a diagnosis of Celiac disease, an autoimmune disorder that flares up when she ingests wheat, barley, or rye. She had also suffered Achilles tendinitis in February, just one month after we started training. I had a very busy schedule between the RA position, the academic coaching position, 18 hours of science heavy classes, and volunteering. It would have been way too easy to make excuses.
The runs during training started out easy, but as the months passed by and the rest of life got more demanding, so did the training. The longest run was a hot and hilly twenty one miler. Not even this long run was particularly exhausting, but it was the constant running from day to day that wore me down. Starting runs became harder and harder to do, especially when I was still sore from yesterday's run. It would have been incredibly easy to work on homework or rest in lieu of running, but it all goes back to my personal integrity. I made myself a promise. This was what I wanted, even though it was not easy.
One thing training did for me was fine tune my time management skills. I had always handled time well, but never before had I been this busy (especially when I had to devote at least an hour a day to running alone). I didn't have time to waste time, so I didn't. Looking back I impressed myself with how I balanced all these aspects of my life. I always knew the relative time of day and I partitioned my time accordingly. These skills will benefit me once I'm in the workforce.
The day of the marathon, Sophia and I ran our best. We finished just over our goal of 4 hours at 4:03. Finishing the marathon made me physically exhausted (I slept for the rest of the day!), but by running it I realized that I can be ambitious. High school Nick would have been too "realistic," but the new Nick set out to run the whole marathon and did it. That in itself is something very important to me, and it's this ambition and confidence that has carried over to the rest of my life. What a great way to end junior year and open up the next phase of my life.
I still run, and I plan to keep running. I find it to be great stress relief and a way to stay healthy. But when asked why I run, I usually reply "I run because someday I know I wont be able to!"