{"id":348,"date":"2009-07-21T15:18:00","date_gmt":"2009-07-21T19:18:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cynthomas.com\/photocardblog\/?p=348"},"modified":"2009-07-21T15:18:00","modified_gmt":"2009-07-21T19:18:00","slug":"im-no-athlete-or-am-i","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cynthomas.com\/journal\/im-no-athlete-or-am-i\/","title":{"rendered":"I’m No Athlete… or am I?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Click<\/a>Since my girlhood, I’ve loved to be outside. Labeled a tomboy, I would spend hours in the sandbox, on my bike and swinging in the backyard. You could also find me snuggled in bed with books for hours on end or watching Charlie’s Angels and The Hardy Boys (LOVED Shaun Cassidy). Now, instead of enjoying both outside adventures and couch-potato behavior, I’m thinking of one while doing the other.
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\nThe main question is… am I an athlete? I see women friends who train for triathlons and marathons. They can be competitive in their age groups and they look like athletes. Then there’s me. Always hovering at the weight limit on that GD height\/weight chart, chugging along in my pursuit of… what? Fitness? Glory? I’m not even sure myself, but I keep the challenges coming.
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\nI trained for a half marathon in 2001. I started training in January to run the race in September. That gives you a tiny clue into how far away I am from a natural runner. I trained with my husband, thinking that we had married the year before and what a great way to get in shape together before we have children. Oh, the plans you have in your head. Come to find out, I am a s-l-o-w runner. So training together consisted of running the same paths and trails, but not together. Near the end of my training, I was struck by a flare-up of my Crohn’s Disease (more on this in another post), and it became difficult to keep doing the long runs necessary to complete the training. In the end, I ran that half marathon. All 13.1 miles of it and finished 3rd to last. Couldn’t compete with my age group – I couldn’t even compete with the 70-80 year-old age group. Two 72-year-old women finished four minutes ahead of me! One of my friends who ran the same race had showered, changed, had a banana (and probably a latte) and then ran the last few steps with me to the finish line, along with my husband. That touched me, but in retrospect, I must have looked like I was dying for them to root me along like that.
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\nSince then, I dabble in running (although honestly, I think I really hate it), practice Power Yoga and walk my dog. Also, now my grand plan is to ride the Trek Across Maine, which is 180 miles in three days from the mountains to the shores of Maine. I just bought my first bike in about 20 years and it’s like I’m 6-years-old again without my training wheels. Is this a problem? Or am I just striving for something that I know is unattainable? There is a women-only triathlon in September that is in the back of my mind… hmmmm.
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\nI still can’t answer the question “Am I an athlete?” I don’t think anyone can… I do know that I will keep chugging this larger than “normal” bod through whatever it can take and try to feel good about it.
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\nUpdate<\/strong> – Well, the Trek Across Maine did not happen. One of my friends was not going to be ready for it, so we decided to do it (or something like it) next year. But I am going to do the women-only sprint triathlon on September 13. I have 8 weeks to get ready. My goal: to finish.
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\nPost originally published April 8, 2009 here<\/a> – updated above<\/p>\n

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