history of my running life

[ilanarama]

I was an unathletic nerdy kid with hopeless hand-eye coordination, but I bicycled for fun and swim a bit; I was on the town swim team and a couple of times I didn't come in last. I had mild scoliosis and managed to parlay that into a doctor's excuse to get out of gym in junior high and high school. When I had to take a semester of sports in college I chose fencing, partly because swordfighting sounded cool, partly because the instructor was cute. (We dated for a couple of weeks after the semester was over. He turned out to be a jerk.)

After college I started dating a guy who was seriously into bike racing. He would go for a 40-mile ride and then come pick me up and we'd do a sedate 10 miles that would leave me exhausted. We moved to another state together to go to grad school in 1986, just as the triathlon started becoming popular, and I decided I might suck less at three sports put together than I did at each one individually. (Also, my boyfriend didn't swim, so he couldn't compete with me.) I hadn't actually done any running before, ever, but that didn't stop me. What almost did was my first training run, when I got horrible shin splints after 2 miles, but I persevered and managed to complete a sprint triathlon.

Over the next few years I continued to compete in triathlons up to what was then called "international distance" (now "Olympic distance") and through dint of much training got to be reasonably good, by which I mean that I usually came in about a third of the way back in the pack, and even qualified for (and raced in) the Bud Light championship held in Hilton Head, SC, although I never won an AG award, not even close. I should add that my ability came from being a middling swimmer and a pretty good cyclist. Running was my worst and least favorite sport.

In 1989 I moved to Colorado where people were a lot more serious about sports. Plus, there was no oxygen. These factors combined to put me in the middle of the back of the pack, and after a couple of disappointing triathlons, I decided my days of competing were over. I took up rock climbing, mountain biking, river rafting, skiing and backpacking. (Just like everybody else in Colorado. If you move to the state and don't pick up at least three of these sports within five years, they kick you out.) I ran, swam, and road biked a little, but just for fitness, no racing. I also got married, which is part of the reason I changed sports; these were all things my husband did, and in fact although we worked for the same company, we actually met while skiing, as we were both on the ski racing (giant slalom) team that competed in the corporate league. (He is a very good skier. I...usually didn't come in last.)

In 1999 we sold everything we owned (which as you might guess included a lot of sports equipment!) and bought a sailboat. We lived aboard and traveled for a bit more than three years, which pretty much precluded most sports other than snorkeling and SCUBA diving. I did only two races in this time, a beach duathlon in George Town, Bahamas (a couple hundred yards each of swimming and running) in which I won first place - a bottle of rum - and a beach footrace later that day in which I came in second, winning a sixpack of beer. As beer is more expensive than rum there, it was actually the better prize.

When we moved back ashore we moved back to Colorado but to a different city, and I got in the habit of running as a way to explore. We met a couple we went backpacking with, and although the other woman was probably 2 inches shorter and 30 pounds heavier than me she kicked my butt on the trail. Turned out she was a marathoner. I thought, "hmm, if SHE can do it..." So I built up to and ran a half marathon the next spring, and a marathon the next fall, and a couple years later ran another marathon. I wasn't particularly fast, but I was solidly middle-of-the-pack, which wasn't too bad considering that my training consisted of "run a couple of times a week and a long run on Saturday."

Then I decided it would be awesome if I could break 4 hours, so I tried an actual training plan which got me under the wire by more than 5 minutes at Baltimore 2008, and hey, that qualified me for the Boston Marathon, which nominally makes me a "serious" runner, right? So I felt obliged to hold up my end of it, and have been increasing my mileage, getting faster, running more races, and amassing a small but gratifying collection of trophies, medals, and schwag as to my delight I've become one of the better over-40 female runners in my (admittedly small) region.

Right now I'm still on the upswing of the improvement curve, although I suspect age will start to trump training within the next few years. (They say a new runner will improve for 7-10 years, but I'm not sure whether to count my start from 2008, or 2002, or heck, 1986.) The very best older women runners are still way out of my league, and I'm never going to get to that kind of level, but that's okay. I'm still running way faster than I ever dreamed of. When I was running 2+ hour half marathons, I daydreamed daringly about running a 1:50 - now I'm eyeing 1:35 as a possibility. I have cut almost a full hour off my marathon time! And I truly enjoy running, something I never would have believed of my future self if you'd asked me back in my triathlon days.

If there is a moral to this story (which there isn't intended to be; this is just a bit of rambling, a memoir, a nostalgic review) it is this: do stuff you like, and keep doing it, even if you suck, and you will improve. Of course the better you are at it to begin with, the more you're likely to enjoy it and train and practice and so on. But not all the people up on the podium getting awards started out as athletic prodigies who ran cross-country in high school. Some of them were nerdy little kids like me.

Comments

[sophinisba]

Thanks for this post! It is really interesting and inspiring. I'm especially amused by the idea of getting kicked out of Colorado. :)

[ilanarama]

Thank you! And honestly, sometimes it seems like EVERYBODY here is ridiculously athletic. It's almost a shock when I meet someone who DOESN'T ski, or mountain bike, or etc.

[melusina]

As a fellow nerdy kid who's become more athletic in my later life, this was a fun read and also very inspiring!

[ilanarama]

I am delighted to be an inspiration! And I love reading your race and family active outing stories.

[walterfielding]

Thanks for writing this up! I love all stories about how people discovered an athletic interest, but yours is especially fun for me since, like you, I found a love for running a bit later (in my 30s), and only after doing a few triathlons. Ha!

You also give me sooooooooo much hope for enjoying a long and productive running life -- I've been dealing with nagging (minor) injuries for more than a year and feeling really frustrated lately. One of these days I'm determined to get back to marathons, and you remind me that I have time to get there. Thank you.

[ilanarama]

Hee, I'm less unique than I thought!

And, what kind of injuries? I went through that drill last summer, and have lots of friends suffering from various running-related symptoms, and I can sympathize.

[traveller42.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the entry.

I may have to do something similar, but I expect it will be a lot less interesting than yours (no boat for starters ;^> )

[ilanarama]

Aw! But you have traveled to some more exotic races than I have.

[gnomad]

♥ So. Much. Love. for this.

[ilanarama]

Thank you! ♥♥♥ right back atcha.

[eisoj5]

This is a great post :)

This little nerdy kid was a #1 doubles player in high school and misses it!

[ilanarama]

Aw! This nerdy kid never had the hand-eye coordination to do anything like that!

And, thanks!

[malnpudl]

I did not know all of this about you. I like hearing your stories.

And I love your closing paragraph. <3

[ilanarama]

Aw, thank you.

[zebra363.livejournal.com]

I still get a huge kick out of just being able to cover any distance at all. In my teens and 20s I just assumed running was for people who were made of stronger stuff than I was!

[ilanarama]

It's deeply weird for me to be running faster times than the times I had previously thought were unattainably fast. It's wonderful you're still running!

From greenlee

[(Anonymous)]

Wow, thanks for sharing. I didn't realize you had such a history and started out with triathlons! You are a wonderful example of how training smart pays off big time!

Re: From greenlee

[ilanarama]

Thanks, Greenlee!

[sobelle]

That's so cool! I love hearing people's stories of how they got where they are now and all the adventures that they've brought along with them. I'm also seriously impressed with your perseverance!

Alas, I would be one of those people kicked out of Colorado =) My brief burst of athleticism was as a runner in my teens until I wrecked both of my knees in a water skiing accident (of all things)

So now I'm just happy to watch. =)

[ilanarama]

Thanks! And I think the other thing that joins Coloradans is that if you go to a party in the summer and everyone's wearing shorts or short skirts, you notice everyone's had knee surgery...

[blnchflr]

I admire your ambition and will power :o)

[ilanarama]

Aw, thanks! It's easier to have ambition when you make strides that make things seem possible - I hate feeling like I'm not making progress. So if I hadn't done okay in early ventures, I might not have continued.

[barkley.livejournal.com]

I really enjoyed this history! You are at such an awesome level now and it's inspiring to see where you came from to get there.

[ilanarama]

Thanks so much. And I am looking forward to vicariously enjoying your bicycle races and tris this summer, since I don't do that any more.

[justrunjim.blogspot.com]

Nice post Ilana. I don't think age is anywhere near catching with you. Just keep the tiara for warding off evil older years


My favorite line : "Just like everybody else in Colorado. If you move to the state and don't pick up at least three of these sports within five years, they kick you out.)"

[ilanarama]

The tiara's pretty good, but I don't know if it's THAT good. Heh. And it's true, everyone in Colorado is frighteningly athletic. You have to improve just to keep up with the back of the pack!

Nice story

[(Anonymous)]

That was a really interesting story Ilana. I started running late in life(46) after many years of alcohol and drug abuse. I really hated it when i started and just tried not to finish last when i entered a race! Now 4yrs later i love running(usually) and have run about 15 marathons and a 50 mile trail ultra. And i usually finish in the top 10-25 percent(not in the ultra). Thanks for the story.

Re: Nice story

[(Anonymous)]

Didn`t mean to make my reply anonymous. It`s TRG-49 From runnersworld

Re: Nice story

[ilanarama]

Thanks for your comment! (And you can log in using OpenID if you have various types of accounts on other services, and so not be anonymous.)