On Being Taken Care of
In the last two weeks post marathon, I've thought a lot about how much support and caring is necessary in the marathon training process.
I'm sure it's not unique to marathon training, but the nature of tackling a huge accomplishment does not come without some care and support. In these past few weeks, I've realized that without my support team (the manfriend, my physical therapist, my mom, Jonah Bell (the dog) and the running friends) the journey would have been a whole heck of a lot harder.
Why? Things are just easier when we have people to lean on, someone to take care of our aches and pains, people asking how we're feeling and how the training is going.
After such a tough and somewhat miserable race, I got emotional thinking about not only how much work I put into the marathon, but how much care I received from others. The manfriend was first and foremost my supporter, which is natural in a relationship.
He cheered me up after crappy runs, reminded me to ice and stretch when things weren't feeling 100% and has been understanding about my hours of relentless running. I'd like to say that my support for him in the bike racing realm is similar. But all the same, he deserves a little pat on the back and home cooked meals for his service. Thank you, manfriend!
It took me a long time to realize I could let people support and care for me and I didn't always have to be the crutch for everyone else to lean on. But I think we become stronger and better people the more we're able to care for and be cared for. Who's your biggest supporter and what's the best thing they've ever done for you?
I'm sure it's not unique to marathon training, but the nature of tackling a huge accomplishment does not come without some care and support. In these past few weeks, I've realized that without my support team (the manfriend, my physical therapist, my mom, Jonah Bell (the dog) and the running friends) the journey would have been a whole heck of a lot harder.
Why? Things are just easier when we have people to lean on, someone to take care of our aches and pains, people asking how we're feeling and how the training is going.
After such a tough and somewhat miserable race, I got emotional thinking about not only how much work I put into the marathon, but how much care I received from others. The manfriend was first and foremost my supporter, which is natural in a relationship.
He cheered me up after crappy runs, reminded me to ice and stretch when things weren't feeling 100% and has been understanding about my hours of relentless running. I'd like to say that my support for him in the bike racing realm is similar. But all the same, he deserves a little pat on the back and home cooked meals for his service. Thank you, manfriend!
It took me a long time to realize I could let people support and care for me and I didn't always have to be the crutch for everyone else to lean on. But I think we become stronger and better people the more we're able to care for and be cared for. Who's your biggest supporter and what's the best thing they've ever done for you?
Comments
Marathon training was easier for me before Eric moved back (as horrible as that sounds). It's just SO MUCH EASIER to get out of a warm bed on Sunday mornings to go run for 3 hours when there isn't a cuddly boy in the bed with you, ya know?
But he was very supportive of me going and never tried to convince me not to go or to stay up late the night before a run or anything like that so that was definitely very nice!
Having Lisa's support through BBM and email (and the entire blogging communities support really) also helped me a lot!
I also struggle to let people take care of me... But my dad has always said that it takes a strong person to ask for help and he really is right...
I have to say, though, I am kind of glad that I met the Barrister at the end of the training cycle... he was definitely supportive and he gets the training thing and gets up for bike rides, etc, but he doesn't get up quite as early as I did for my long runs... and we went to bed MUCH later than I was used to before he came along. :)
D is my biggest supporter/best friend/complete lifeline during training. I honestly couldn't have done many of those LRs without him next to me - and reminded him of that often :)