Ever find yourself cornered at a party or in the office answering a million questions from family/friends/co-workers about marathon training? Like you’re being interrogated, the questions come flying one after another.
I love to talk about running and probably could do so all day long so I normally don’t mind these questions. Most of the time they are coming from non-runners, which makes things interesting.
- How far is a marathon? Definitely #1 FAQ. I’m still amazed that people don’t know this. Isn’t this common knowledge?
- So how far is the marathon you are going to run next week? Umm, yep…still 26.2 miles. This question annoys me slightly. All marathons are 26.2 miles. And yes, I mean MILES.
- Do you run every day? Nope. Then I explain the concept of a rest day.
- What do you eat? A very open-ended question. Do you mean pre-run, post-run, all the time? People assume I’m a super healthy eater (ha ha) and I watch what I eat (ha ha ha). Then I explain my love for DQ Blizzards.
- So you lose weight training for a marathon? Everyone is looking for a magic weight-loss plan but it ain’t marathoning. I explain that I do lose some weight when my mileage is high (more on this in another post) but generally my weight stays the same because I eat all.day.long.
- Are you going to finish the marathon you’re running next week? Umm, yep…that’s the plan.
- How long will it take you? This is always funny. I’ve gotten the range of 3 hours to 6 hours. Which always leads to the follow-up question…
- Wait, you are going to run the ENTIRE time? In general, yes. I may take a few brief walk breaks.
- Running is bad for your knees. I love this one. If I’m sick of answering questions at this point I explain the concept of adaption and their eyes usually glaze over with boredom.
Got anything to add to the list? Which question do you answer the most from family/friends/co-workers?