Last night I joined my husband anf friends to check out the Alvin Ailey Dance Company. I must admit that I am more mesmerized by the dancers impeccable physiques than I am the dancing. These dancers do amazing things with their bodies. I always wanted to be a dancer when I was kid. We couldn't afford dance lessons, and as rhymithically challenged as I am, it wasn't coming naturally. So, I do what every parent who never fulfilled a childhood dream does--I force my kids to do it for me! Both of my girls spend their Saturday afternoons doing plies and pata-beres, while I peer through the two way mirror and pretend that I'm a 7 year old prima ballerina. Don't judge me!
Anyway, during intermission it was suggested that we get a drink. I must admit that the thought of a soothing glass of crushed red grapes was calling like Pookie to crack. As I lept from my seat to run to the bar, my husband grabbed my arm and said "should you be drinking wine, athlete?" I wanted to to take my heels and dig them into his foot. How dare he question my wine consumption! How dare he use the word "athlete" so facetiously when talking to me! I am an athlete, dammit. Didn't I run 4 miles 2 days ago? haven't I been hauling my out of bed at 5 in the morning to get to the gym? Take a public shower? Don't I wear spandex? All characteristics of an athlete. And yet I am mocked because I want to sip a little wine to unwind. I promised myself that i wouldn't whine as I embarked on this adventure. I knew that it would be hard and that sacrafice was inevitable. Whining was not going to make it any more bearable. However, my experience has shown that wining (a sweet reisling) always makes things better, at least while you're sipping and the few hours that follow, and during that deep sleep.......... Sorry, I drifted off for a moment. Therein lies the rub. Wining weakens my defenses and makes we want to curl up in my bed and dream. Wining forces me to realize that running 26.2 miles is probably as goofy as me dancing in my kids' recital. Wining is totally counter-productive to getting up and donning spandex and hiting the gym! To get all Jesse Jackson with it, "I can't win with wine" (well it doesn't rhyme but you get the the point). So, I am committed to no whining anout no wining, and no wining on nights before a run. That seems fair right?
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Are you kidding me? Long distance runners are the BIGGEST wine snobs ever!! Now I wouldn't suggest you go boozing the night before a major race but you can definitely indulge yourself with a glass or two of "crushed red grapes"
ReplyDeleteNow whining is unacceptable and will not be tolerated. You have accomplished so many things and beat so many odds thus far and a mere 26.2 miles will just be another check off the list! Now suck it up and Run Like A Foxx!!
I was just having the same internal battle. I'm watching basketball and I desperately want to enjoy a drink while doing so. I mean really, it's friday, I'm on my couch, what am I supposed to do as I stare at the TV? But alas, I'm going to run 6 miles tomorrow, so the liquor will have to wait. Maybe I'll see you tomorrow at ERC?
ReplyDelete(Oh yeah, I'm going to see Alvin Ailey on Sunday. We have a lot in common. :) )
I'm with Kem. Distance runners are pleasure seekers by nature. No other athlete on the planet can imagine being a distance runner, except a distance runner. Only runners can find the pleasure in the pain of pounding the pavement mile after mile. You are dedicating yourself to a goal that requires a great deal of self discipline, not deprivation. Your post immediately reminded me of a Nike ad that I clipped and carried around with me for awhile. Girl power!
ReplyDeleteWe Are Hedonists
We are Hedonists
We are basically hedonists.
That's what makes us human.
And we were made to want pretty simple things:
Food.
Water.
Shelter.
Warmth.
And pleasure.
We want what feels good.
We need the thrill that comes from being good at something.
The thrill of doing what we weren't sure
we could ever actually do.
Nobody wants the thrill more than a runner. The high, the scream,
the finish line that keeps going and going,
and going.
Because of course there isn't one.
Now a runner runs because she has faith.
Faith the road will carry her.
Faith her knees will last one more mile. And one more mile.
And she knows that running isn't food. And it isn't shelter.
And it isn't even, at the end of the day,
really all that warm.
But it is how she finds pleasure.
And on every road,
there it is again.
If it feels good then just do it.
Well said Kenna, well said!
ReplyDeleteNo wine? Nobody mentioned that in the nutrition classes at running club.
ReplyDeleteWow. A marathoner.
ReplyDelete