Pre-Race Butterflies

I am but a week away from boarding my early morning flight to New York City and, for the first time in a long, long while, I think I may be getting pre-race butterflies.

It's not that this is a new feeling for me, I mean I have been toeing the starting line of races for 22 years, having run in 19 marathons and well over 40+ other road races up and to this point in my life. Each one presented its own list of anxieties and goose bumps - some more, some less. But there's just something about knowing you're going to be running in the largest, and widely considered the most famous, marathon in the world.

Last night I was talking with a friend who completed her first half-marathon at the Des Moines Marathon this previous weekend. I could tell how incredibly excited she was knowing she had conquered the previous unknown, that she had charged through and had persevered the challenge of the distance she set before herself. Her expressions told the story of an elusive goal now met. Congratulating her on such a wonderful accomplishment, I politely inquired if she had any plans to explore the marathon distance someday. She paused for a moment, but I could see in her eyes the twinkling of a dream beginning to unfold. "I think I could do that," she said with a smile. Knowing her, I bet she'll tackle that marathon dream at next year's event, and good for her for accepting that challenge.

It has been many years since my first race. To me, it's been a long history of training through the seasons, giving each race everything I could, and leaving the gas tank empty each time. And though I've seen the finish line of countless distances, even a few multi-day staged events, I haven't yet felt like I've lost that twinkle of future possibility myself.

The anxieties I feel each and every time I pin that number to my shirt are what keep those possibilities, those dreams, inside of me alive. Those butterflies I experience reaffirm for me that I simply enjoy what I do. Trying to explain that to someone who hasn't felt the surge of thousands of runners suddenly explode into motion when the gun goes off is often times difficult. But, in that simplicity, the anxieties are what makes the race exciting, full of potential, and fodder for future possibilities.

You see, without them the race would be just that...a race. I'll take butterflies any day.

PHOTO BY Jupiter Images
LABELS race anxieties, training