Manchester City Marathon

Yesterday I went to the Manchester City Marathon expo to pick up my teams race packet. This weekend I'm running in the Marathon Relay here in Manchester, NH; my hometown, with a few members of my family. I first ran this marathon in 2007 and heading into the expo, I was curious to see what kind of changes had been made over the last 3 years to hopefully improve the quality of the expo. The answer, not much. Why? Because the marathon here falls on the same weekend as New York City's marathon and that's where all the vendors are. Still, I will admit that while walking around at this years expo, I did find that as compared to in 2007 the expo is definitely geared more towards "running" and not so much just business as usual.

My step-mother Helen was working packet pick-up, something she enjoys doing every year. After walking around the expo I approached her spot and stood beside her. She had been talking to a Manchester Native and it quickly turned into the downward spiral of "marathon culture" that I've grown to hate.

Runner: "Well, I've run a marathon before, in Burlington, so this should be a piece of cake."
Step-Mom: "That's great, so you're ready to go?"
Runner: "Yeah... Burlington, VT. It's a tough race."
Step-Mom: "So have you ever considered running ultras?"
Runner: "NOPE!"
Step-Mom: "Do you think Ultra-runners are crazy?"
Runner: "Yes!"
Sherpa: "Ok... well what makes us so crazy?"
Runner: "I guess it's just because I could never do it."
Sherpa: "That's why you know... the first step to running an ultra.. OR A MARATHON... is believing that you can do it."
Runner: "I barely have the time to train for a marathon so I know I wouldn't have the time to train for an ultra."
Sherpa: "I am willing to bet money that you've run more miles in training for this marathon then I've probably run in the last 6 months total."
Runner: "Don't think so.."
Sherpa: "How does $1000 sound?"

A few things happened here in this conversation. 1.) Why did my step mother even need to go there? Am I crazy? Or just determined, stubborn, dedicated, etc?  But then it heads into 2.) The Marathoners Chest-Thumping. The Vermont City Marathon in Burlington, VT was my first marathon. I've run it twice. Is it hard? Yeah. Now granted I can understand the level of pride that comes along with running a marathon. For some folks it's likely the hardest thing they'll ever do. I guess there is some kind of disconnect here that I don't understand. I mean... when an Ultra-runner shows up to run Vermont.. they don't walk around and say... "Well... I ran Western States so this will be a piece of cake." Just sayin...

But the one thing this runner is 100% right about is that.. so long as he's living under the mindset that he could never run an ultra; he never will. But I'll argue with him to the death that we're not crazy.. not one bit. In standing at the expo and listening to and talking to folks... I'm willing to certify that I was the least crazy person in the room, especially less crazy then this cat.

So, Ann, Mike, Sarah and I will be running the Manchester City Marathon Relay tomorrow. We have no time goal. our only goal is to have fun and finish regardless of how long it takes us. The best part about this run is that the members of my family who get me the most.. who understand why I run the most, are all out there running with me. I consider this to be a pretty major miracle for me seeing as so much of my family still doesn't seem to "get it."

Happy Trails.... er.. pavement?
SJ