(Happy) Sweet 16!

Happy Sweet 16 to me! No, I’m not talking about the crappy MTV reality kind of overblown drama filled show with annoying girls spending Daddy’s money kind of 16th birthday. I’m talking I ran 16 miles this Saturday!!!

No matter how much fun of the show I make, 16th birthdays are a monumental and changing point in most girls’ lives and I was no exception. It’s an age where you are no longer a child, really start to “find yourself” and form your identity as an adult. Does that mean that I’m starting to develop myself as a runner? It’s like I just finished my freshman year of high school. I have become close with my teammates and overcame so many obstacles to get to this point…but yet I am still a youngin. I am anxious but scared of what the future holds for me. I know with the guidance of my teachers, my coaches, I will be able to graduate. I will be a marathoner.

It’s weird because before this run I don’t think I really admitted it to myself. I also don’t think I really comprehended how long 26.2 miles was. I still don’t think I comprehend how long 26.2 miles is…maybe that’s because I have no sense of direction…maybe its because I’m scared to map it out…

I don’t know if I will ever consider myself a runner. It’s just not an adjective I would use to describe myself- words I would use? Well, I like to have fun, travel, and go out. I think it’s the word “like” that gets in the way. Do you have to like something in order to be it? Yeah, I talk about not being a runner, but at the same point I guess I am very much a runner. I mean, I’m logging between 20 and 30 miles a week, giving up my Friday nights to rest, Saturday nights because I’m exhausted from my long run, and all day on Sunday because my legs literally feel like jelly. Because it takes up so much of my time, I guess it’s only fair to call myself a runner…right?

I’m planning on signing up for a 5 mile “Turkey Trot” on Thanksgiving and another 5 mile race in the beginning of December. When I told Kate I was gonna do them, I immediately followed by writing “WHO THE F AM I?” (we talk via email like its IM). This is a sentence that pops up quite frequently in our emails. What on earth would possess me to voluntarily sign up for a race the day, oh excuse me…the morning, after what is arguably one of the biggest party nights of the year?!!! It’s not like I plan on winning the race…I just think it might be...I don’t know…fun? But can it possibly be more fun then the anniversary of never ending free buckets of Jimmy cosmo’s? (Side note…Jimmy is a bartender who used to work at the fill and he makes the world’s best cosmopolitan. No contest.) So what if I might get a t-shirt for the race, but who knows, after a night of “Jimmy cosmos” I’ll most likely be needing much more then just a free t-shirt. Then I’m planning on doing the Wantagh Snowball Run in the beginning of December which is going to require me to wake up even earlier then normal, map out a 7 mile run to do by myself, then end up at the start of the race and do the last 5 of my scheduled 13 mile run as the race. The reason I’m doing that? Simple…free beer at the end of the race!

So there you go. Thanksgiving eve I am planning on forfeiting a great night just to run 5 miles and get a crappy t-shirt. Then two weeks later I am redoing my schedule so I can get free beer at the end of the race. So that leaves me once again wondering WHO THE F AM I? At least I’m not on some self centered MTV reality show. Sweet life.