Sunday, January 23, 2011

Marathon Maniacs?

In late October last year, I volunteered in an aid station for the inaugural Paso Robles Harvest Marathon.  I would have love to run this marathon but it was two weeks from NY. I had no choice but to get my fix by volunteering.  A finisher asked me to look into this website called Marathon Maniacs.  It is a club of ultrarunners who are fanatical about marathons.  They hunt down small marathons, big marathons, all over the United States.  He said I might very well qualify for "Maniac" status. Intrigued, I checked out their website and here's a list of questions they asked of potential members. My answers are italicized. 
  1. Are you addicted to running marathons? Yes
  2. Do your thoughts switch to the next scheduled race immediately after finishing a marathon? Yes, always.
  3. Are you signed up for more than one race right now?  Yes, three.
  4. Do you know specifics about many of the marathons? Dates, courses, years run, etc.? Yes
  5. Do you know the story of how the marathon got started? Also why the course is 26.2 miles? Yes
  6. Do you read books on marathons like Marathon and Beyond?  Yes. I own it.
  7. Is http://www.marathonguide.com/ book marked on your computer? Yes
  8. Do you look at the race schedule more than once a week? Yes
  9. Do you start to feel down when you haven't run a marathon in a while? Yes!!!!!!!! 
  10. Are your closets and dressers filled with marathon t-shirts? Yes! My dresser has one dedicated drawer each for: shorts, running skirts, pants, race shirts, tech long-sleeve shirts, tech short sleeve shirts, tech tank shirts with pockets, 1/4 zip shirts & T-necks, running jackets, running hats, arm warmers, calves sleeves, misc gear, watches, sunglasses.
  11. Do you have so many marathon medals that you've run out of room on the hook they hang from? Yes
  12. When asked about your racing from none running people, do you find yourself talking with great passion to the point that the person that asked the question regrets ever asking?  Yes
  13. Have you run marathons on back to back weekends? Or better yet back to back days?  Not that crazy yet.
  14. Have you run a marathon as a training run? Or just to pace a friend? Yes
  15. When asked by loved ones what your plans are for the weekend, you feel guilty telling them your running another marathon so you tell them "it's only a half this weekend"?   Yes
  16. Do you plan all your vacations around a marathon race? Not all.
Well if you answered yes to any of these questions, you just may be a Marathon Maniac!!!

Well I am not quite a maniac yet. To become a marathon Maniac member at a minimum, what they call the "bronze category," I would have to run 2 marathons within a 16-day time frame or 3 marathons within a 90-day time frame. Barring injuries, it appears though, I may have a chance since Napa, Oakland, and the Avenue of the Giants are within a 56 day-period.  The thought makes me tingly all over. Gee, am I starting to sound like a maniac?

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