Things That Don’t Make Sense: Marathons

There are things in life I just don’t understand.  Like how a piece of paper can pierce your skin providing you with some of the worst pain imaginable.  Or why there are only like 5 fruit snacks in a pack of fruit snacks.  

But the one thing I don’t understand that I am choosing to talk about today is why people run marathons.

A recent conversation with my husband got me thinking about this.

He took the kids to the park and in his attempt to get more exercise he ran.  And felt like he would vomit from this venture.   So as he was telling me of his woes I thought (and pretty sure I said out loud) “running is never a good idea”.

I know some people enjoy it.  I think they’re crazy.  But I still love them, because I love me a little crazy (mostly because I want them to still love me despite MY crazy).

This got me thinking even more.  I realize as I type this I think FAR too much about pointless things in life and I could probably be a multi-millionaire or discoverer of the cure for cancer by now if I put my thought to much more useful things.  But instead I think about the pointlessness of marathons.

Not all marathons are pointless.  If you are doing one of those marathons that are just for the heck of it and you like running and peeing on yourself then go for it.

But if you are doing one of the far more common type of marathon that is “running for a cause” I think you might be an idiot.  WHY do you pay say $100 to be in a marathon to “cure breast cancer”?  Half of that is going towards things like a t shirt for you and a medal for the winner and ropes and ribbons along the way.  If you care that much about curing breast cancer why not just donate the $100??? And if the argument is that you can get “sponsors” for your run why not just ask those same people to just donate directly??

It makes no sense!

All this to say if you want to run a marathon because for some crazy reason it’s on your bucket list or you actually enjoy that whole running thing I fully support you (knowing I think you’re a little psycho).

If you are running for “cause” I think your being stupid. 

However, if it just so happens that the marathon you are running in because you actually enjoy it is one of those that are for a “cause” I find no fault in that.  But if the “cause” is what’s making you do a horrific thing like a marathon give yourself a break and just give the money directly to the darn charity.  I promise you it’s the better life choice.