"you're not a runner."

i've spent hours trying to figure out how to start this blog (and even longer thinking about what i'd actually write about), so i figure that a motivational phrase such as "you're not a runner" is as good as anything.

"you're not a runner."

these are the words that my dad said to me last weekend, after we had just completed a really lovely morning run together. i'd done 7 miles, he'd done 6. we're training for the marine corps marathon next month. my second, his first.

"you're not a runner."

these are the words that he said to me, not to be hurtful or discouraging or anything even remotely in the same ballpark--my dad's amazing, a ridiculously-medaled military officer who's been my lifelong hero. it was a comment that was made in casual conversation, as he was comparing me to a normal "runner"--someone tall and thin and fast--three key components of normal runners; three things of which i am none. so, it made me question what makes someone a "runner," and it made me think back on my non-runner history.

according to my nikeplus stats, i've run over 550 miles in the past 18 months. the most basic, dumbed-down math will equate that to about 30 miles a month, so approximately one mile per day. which, if you break it down that far, seems a bit small--so maybe i'm not a "runner."

to convince myself otherwise, i went through all of my race bibs tonight--i keep each one, just as a reminder of accomplishment, and partially due to being somewhat of a sentimentalist (translation: packrat). there's the 2007 waterway classic 5k, the 2008 cherry blossom 10 miler, and the whole slew of races from 2010: the run to register 10k, pacers running festival half marathon, crossroads 17.75k, woodrow wilson bridge half marathon, army 10 miler, marine corps marathon, quantico turkey trot, and then the 2011 george washington parkway 10 miler.

"you're not a runner."

to be fair, for someone who's had a lifelong career of running, that may not seem like a lot. nonetheless, after looking over these plastic-paper-sheets of months of hard work and determination, "you're not a runner" is seeming to hold up a bit less weight, since i'm pretty proud of overcoming all the obstacles it took for me to do each and every race.

i don't have some sort of witty comeback to my dad's careless comment, nor do i want to harp over it either. he's proven almost 29 years of wonderful fatherhood, and something like that won't even begin to diminish how wonderful my parents (and brother) are. frankly, it doesn't really bother me that he doesn't think i'm a "runner"--he's training for his first marathon out of a partial desire to outdo me anyway--which in turn gives me some sort of twisted motivation to be better.

there are lots of reasons why i started running, and even more reasons that i continue to run. i think about them constantly while i'm out for hours on the pavement or trails, and i always wonder why i don't write about it. so this morning, my uncertainty to write was snapped by a friend who beat me to the running-blog-punch. so... thus begins exploring the reasons i run.

reason #1: i'm not a runner.