Crazy Runners or just Crazies who run?

I love this story:

A Runner's Place

But, this story also frightens the hell out of me. How many times have I heard someone to refer to an older runner as “a little weird.” Or… “well, he’s a strange guy.” Literally about 20 times and most recently as just last week. My dad referred to someone as “a little different.” Now, I don’t mean people refer to them as weird BECAUSE they run so much… it just seems to be that running a lot and being weird are cousins. Like first cousins. Okay, maybe even siblings.

How many times do you go to a race and look around and see older people, in their 40s+ and look at them in their 1980s running singlet, their scrawny little legs and think… I bet that’s one of the weird ones. You can spot these guys immediately. (Women, too).

I know I’m fairly new to this whole running thing… but, I see the addiction happening. I know I’ve blogged about this many times before, but running is so many things for me. But one of the most important things, is that it’s something that I am in complete control of. And that’s what scares me. Why does that appeal to me?? Why do I need to be in complete control of something? Does this mean I’m a control freak? What’s going to happen to me? (Okay, taking a deep breath).

The more I run, the more I want to run. I recently came across a graph on a runners message board (see??? I told you I’m addicted, I frequent running message boards… that’s one step closer to becoming old, weird running lady)

The discussion was on the accuracy of the Macmillian Calculator. Apparently, it’s a little optimistic for the average runner. The thing is… the more mileage you run, the closer you’ll get to it and this graph displays what your peak weekly mileage should be for your hopeful marathon time.

Goal Time Peak Weekly Mileage
2:15-2:22 --85 mpw
2:23-2:35 --75 mpw
2:36-2:50 --60 mpw
2:51-3:30 --50 mpw
3:31-4:00 --45 mpw
4:00+ --30 mpw

Which, honestly… doesn’t look that bad. I mean, to qualify for boston, I have to run a 3:40 marathon, which means my peak mileage is about 45-50 miles a week. Which is not that crazy of a number, to me.

Ok, so back to the crazy runners... I think that running (like anything) can become an obsessive passion for people (like me). So, I think that the “weird” runners are just weird people who happen to run. Hopefully running for several years doesn’t turn you into a closed off, OCD riddled loner (like the guy in the story). Honestly, there are probably more "normal" older runners out there, we just don’t notice them.

Anyway, that’s what I’m hoping. But, hell, if I do turn into the crazy, old runner lady. At least that’s better than the creepy, old lady with 5,000 cats and a moustache. Right?

The most I can hope for is to still be running in my old age... although, I know I will be.