1. One word: Don. Don Megerle is the marathon coach who organizes all the long runs, creates the training program, holds interval training, gives you tips, provides food and water and encouragement... the list goes on. I guarantee you will fall in love with Don. He is entirely committed to each and every runner, he wears shorts regardless of the temperature and he always has chocolate!
2. The back of Don's car. It has become one of my favorite places to be. Granola bars, snack packs, water, Gatorade, peanut butter, bananas, tissues. It's a good place to be at any time, but especially after just running.
3. You get to sweat with the president - how many college students can say that? Larry Bacow comes to most of the training runs, is very personable and friendly and is genuinely interested in getting to know students in a context outside of his presidential role.
4. It is the perfect way to get to know Boston. Every year I have been here, I vow to explore this great city. Yet each semester, I end up deciding that I am really much more comfortable in my bed than I would be wrapped up in 10 layers and wandering around some remote Boston district. But when you start running longer and longer distances, it is possible to both train and get to know the city at the same time.
5. It is a great way to meet new people. There are alumni, teachers, parents, graduate students and an array of undergrads that all form the Tufts team. For those of you that are deeply entrenched in your college clique, being part of a team provides the opportunity to meet people outside of the classroom and the friends-of-friends. In our sheltered college world, besides professors, we spend very little time interacting with people who are not 18 to 23, but they do exist, and some of them are really cool!
6. It's an excuse not to go out. Okay, so this might sound like a lame reason, and I am not going to lie: There were definitely Saturday nights when all my housemates were going to bars and I grudgingly had to stay home. But there were also just as many nights when I secretly was glad I had an excuse. Because after a while, the same house parties, the same bars and the same drunk Tufts kids just are not as much fun as they used to be.
7. You will gain an entirely new appreciation for the morning, something I have avidly avoided in the past four years. Training runs are on Wednesdays at 7 a.m. and Sundays at 8 a.m. and as hard as it was to drag myself out of bed, once I was outside running, I gained a new appreciation for the beauty and quiet of Medford in the morning. It's serene, it smells good and you feel very accomplished when you get back from a 10 mile run and your housemates are all still asleep.
8. You can - and have to - eat as much as you want.
9. Anytime you're lazy, want to sleep in or want to plant yourself on the couch and watch bad TV for the day, it's okay because you will have gained lifetime access to the "Whatever - I ran a marathon" excuse.
10. It feels good. Well, the day after the marathon, not that good, but after reasonable distances, you will feel energized and refreshed the rest of the day.
11. You get to wear spandex tights.
12. You have a lot of time to think. When you are doing 30 to 40 miles a week, that's five to six-and-a-half hours of alone time. I have actually planned out papers I need to write, figured out my schedule for the week and thought about what I will do once I graduate. I have also spent a lot of those hours imagining elaborate breakfasts, thinking about the lopsided butt of the runner in front of me, or playing my favorite game, How-many-steps-can-I-run-with-my-eyes-closed-before-I-either-convince-myself-I'm-going-to-run-into-something-or-actually-do. My record is 67.
13. You get to cover your body in Vaseline.
14. The Boston Marathon is the oldest and most prestigious of all marathons in the United States, and by joining the Tufts team, you get to run it without having to qualify.
15. You get to raise money for a good cause.
16. Gu - a thick gel of simple carbs and sugar. I almost threw up when I tasted it at home, but I was convinced it was the best food on earth when they handed it to me at Mile 17. Funny how that works.
17. You get a cool medal, which I plan to wear whenever I'm feeling down.
18. You get out of class until you can walk again.
19. You get a free catered dinner the night before and top-notch entertainment the four hours or more that you wait at Hopkinton for the marathon to start, including American Idol reject Ayla Brown and Colorado band, Soundrabbit!
20. You can make your housemates feed you and fetch you things after long runs.
21. The weekend before the marathon, you have to gain five pounds.
22. You can write your name on your arm and hear thousands of strangers cheer for you.
23. You get full access to the same training facilities as Tufts athletes.
24. You get to litter without guilt as you throw cup after cup of water on the course.
25. Anyone can do it! I guess my main argument here is that I did. I have not played sports throughout college. The most I had ever run prior to this was six miles and it was hell. I have never run regularly. I actually despised running. I ran the marathon on a dare and never expected to come to love running in the process. The training program is very gradual and manageable.
I guarantee you that no matter what your physical shape, as long as you are mentally committed, you will make it the 26.2 miles. There is no pressure to finish under a certain time. It might seem like a lot, but you can run as slow as you want and it will still be just as big an accomplishment for you as the Kenyans running 4:50 marathons.
26. There is no feeling in the world that compares to turning the corner onto Boylston and crossing the finish line. Though I am walking like I am 80 right now, have multiple blisters, and need help getting up and down stairs, I would not take it back for a minute. I urge everyone to take advantage of the opportunity Tufts provides because it will never get easier than this to run the Boston Marathon.
.2. Just because.
Talia Goodkin is a senior majoring in history, and though she never plans on running another marathon again, you should!
