Mar 10
31
An update on Jane Fox, marathon runner at 61
Here’s an update from Jane Fox. She turned 61 on her last birthday, and decided to run a marathon before she turned 62.
I’m into the most important part of my training and, of course, I’m up against my stuff big time. By STUFF I mean all the reasons to not run, all the mind chatter that tells me to quit, all the brain synapses that have stopped me from getting what I’ve wanted in the past. These synapses are pretty strong and working through them is not easy. But this is where you separate the wheat from the chaff, the girls from the woman, Tarzan from Jane. We’ll have to see if I’m a just a Jane or a Tarzan. (I think I should have picked a different comparison.)
I’ve been putting a lot of thought into what is motivating me to continue with, not only this project, but running in general. I’m not losing weight, as a matter of fact I’m having a hard time keeping it off. You’d think when I ran 8 miles and supposedly used over 800 calories I could up my caloric intake but it doesn’t seem to work quite that easily. I read articles about people who run just so they can eat more but that’s not me, my body is not made that way. The only thing that keeps the weight off me is eating properly and in the amounts my body needs. I’ve not noticed too much difference in my body composition either but my husband did mention the other day that he thinks my body is changing. He didn’t say how and I didn’t ask. Haha.
I do have to make sure I eat enough to keep my glycogen levels up and I don’t run out of gas on my longer runs but not enough to put on weight. That’s been a balance I’ve struggled with and continue to. I’ve decided to not worry about my weight until after the “Big Day” with an eye on making sure I don’t put on pounds because that makes running harder.
In any case, running doesn’t affect my weight so that’s not a motivating factor, at least not for me. That doesn’t mean it can’t be for the others but it’s not for me.
Running isn’t making a huge difference in the way my body looks so that isn’t part of it.
I’m getting better at running, at least according to my times and the distances I am able to run, and that’s pretty big for me. Health is more precious to me than anything; family friends, money because if I didn’t have good health I couldn’t enjoy anything. Needless to say keeping in good physical shape is a motivating factor but then again, I can stay healthy without running, can’t I? So why go through this?
It’s ok to ease up yourself at times but it’s important to understand when you can give yourself a little leeway and when you shouldn’t, when you should just push through all your STUFF. I know myself well enough to know when I should push and when I can ease up and yesterday was a day I needed to push through. So that’s what I did. I drove to the gym and got on the damn treadmill. Now that didn’t mean I was perfectly OK with this run. Oh no! I was still resisting and still wanted to turn around and go back home. But like I said, I knew pushing through this was a very very important step for me. Very important.
Anyway back to what keeps us motivated. For me I have come to realization that a large part of my motivation is having others along to push me. Is part of it a desire to impress, to say look at me I’m a 61 year old woman who is running a marathon? Although it is hard to admit, that is part of it. Yet is that enough to keep me going each and every step? Was that enough to keep me going when I hit that proverbial wall the first time I ever ran 13 miles? That would be a stretch so there must be something a lot deeper inside me, something much more intrinsic.
Our first story about Jane Inspired by the Biggest Loser
Visit Jane’s blog to read about her quest to run a marathon before her 62nd birthday! My First Marathon
