Life After Diets
How To Train For A Marathon
When you have a history of disordered eating
Every November, for most of my life, I’ve spent the first Sunday of the month watching the runners of the New York City marathon as they breeze through my Brooklyn neighborhood. It’s early in the race, just a few miles past the Staten Island starting line, and everyone is still fresh and smiling and waving to the on-lookers.
It’s an incredible event to witness. There’s live music and cheering crowds and neighborhood kids doling out water and snacks and high fives. The atmosphere is emotionally intoxicating; you cannot help but be moved by the knowledge of what these people are accomplishing.
So, every year, a few weeks after race day, inspired and still enjoying a contact runner’s high, I enter the lottery to run the marathon the following year. I mark my calendar and anxiously await the drawing in February. But, by the time the drawing rolls around, I’m genuinely relieved that once again my name has not been chosen. Because who is motivated by or thrilled at the thought of running 26.2 miles after a few months of New York winter?
Still, especially after I ran the Walt Disney World Marathon in 2017, the thought of running through the five boroughs of New York City, through the very neighborhood…
