Wednesday, December 28, 2005

Running a marathon...or did you?

In response to a certain poster of this and Scott’s web site, i’m sharing a little tale that was begged of me not to share. But since said poster (who shall remain nameless...ljisaak) has threatened to take her comments elsewhere because of a lack of posts, all confidentiality agreements are off.

The following is a true story.

Girl wakes on a fine So Cal weekend morning and decides to go for a run. What to wear, what to wear, she thinks. Then, her eyes spy an orange top. Why, it’s her beloved RBF orange running shirt that says on the back "Fabulous Las Vegas Marathon 2005" (or something like that). Yes, that will work.

Two miles later and it’s time to stop for a Starbucks.

Man at Starbucks (in excited voice): "Did you run the Las Vegas marathon?!"
Girl: "Uh, ya."
Man at Starbucks: "My friend did that! Man, and youre already running?!"
Girl: "Why, yes, yes, I am."

Then, grabbing her hazelnut latte, off the girl runs, feeling an imposter and praying no one but she knows she has just told a half-truth truth: the girl did run the marathon. She just missed the first 25 miles.

Question for readers: Have you ever said you’ve ran a marathon when you haven’t? Why or why not?

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

I never told a living sole that I actually ran a marathon. But I´m telling everyone I meet that I´m going to run the NY marathon in 2006. I have already preorderd a ticket to NY and a start place to the marathon. If I finnish... I will let you know in november.

Ben, aka BadBen said...

Committing to an event with travel money and entry fees is one sure way to make sure that you train.

As far as telling someone that I ran a marathon, when I didn't -
I don't run marathons very often anymore. And I actually avoid telling people that I run 50 & 100-mile ultras, because:
1) It's hard to explain to them, if they've never heard of an ultra.
2) They don't believe that they are one-day events.
3) They misunderstand me and think that I'm a cyclist.
4) They think I'm either a liar or fucking nuts.
5) All of the above.

I just avoid talking about the events, and focus on trail running, in general.

Scott in Washington said...

LJ, what are we going to do with you? You will have to sneak into her room when you are over there and write SUPPORT STAFF all over her shirt with permanent ink.

Actually I sort of had the opposite experience on Monday. I was talking to the adult children of some old friends of my parent's who I hadn't seen in about 20 years. We were sort of tossing out 'be impressed with me' sort of comments and I causually mentioned that I was in Vegas recently to run the marathon. It turned out that the guy's wife, who was standing there, was a former Olympic triathelete who had competed three times. Umm, yah, I'm impressive...

About Me: said...

Under direction from her attorney, partyrunner has been advised to remove the post titled, "Running a marathon...or did you?"

It will be removed at blogmaster's earliest convenience.

Scott in Washington said...

You'd better consult with Riona on that. After all, she does have a law degree.

Unknown said...

BUSTED!

Cris said...

too bad. censorship rules, I guess.

while this is stillup, though...
i still don't tell people I *ran* a marathon. I participated. When I run one without walking, then I'll have run a marathon, right?

E-Speed said...

my girlfriend did the Akron marathon with a friend who had never run much and had just quit smoking. She finished around 6 hours, 3rd from last. She told me they stopped for massages along the way. There was also some crawling just for laughs.

She refuses to run a marathon with me stating that it is too far. So I guess even though she did a marathon she still won't say she did. I guess opposite of this anonymous girls problem :)

Rae said...

Ha! That's hilarious. Nope, I've never lied about it but I tell everyone I know I'm ABOUT to run one!

Unknown said...

Uh, nope, I did chop down the cherry tree.

Iron Jayhawk said...

I'm with Brooklyn...not sure I can claim I've run a marathon when there's going to be a shit load of walking on 1/15 in Phoenix.

a.maria said...

nope. never told someone i have when i havent... but i dont think i've stopped mentioning to people that i'm running san diego.

i'm pretty sure my friends are about to trip me in hopes of a twisted ankle, just so i'll stop all the run-talk!

Fe-lady said...

No way...and I don't wear the race t-shirt unless I do really well at the race.
AND I don't tell people what I plan to do 'cause it jinxs it and half the time they don't give a damn anyway!