In 1994, I did my first marathon.
I went to the start line in Chicago, high fived Oprah along the course, pounded
out my 26.2, and received my medal. Big deal, right? This hardly qualifies me
as unique. What I heard at the start line was unique however and it is a
sentiment I have heard over and over throughout my running “career”. As I stood
waiting for the gun on that Sunday morning so many years ago a young lady next
to me tapped me and said “the 5k doesn’t start for another half an hour”. Why
would she say this to me? It tends to come from the fact I am big. Not 200 lb.,
Clydesdale big but “oh my goodness, I hope THAT guy doesn’t sit next to me”
when I walk down the aisle of an airplane big.
For Chicago I got my weight down
to 250 lbs. That was the lightest I have been since my freshman year of high
school. I have done a half ironman triathlon at 280 lbs, a half marathon at
305, and multiple distance events approaching weights that would make me
heavier than the winners if I was weighed on the moon. My background is in
track and field but it was in decidedly more strength oriented events.
Throughout it all however, I loved to run. I am never going to be up near the
leaders in fact I usually hope I don’t get lapped on loop courses. I could care
less. I love being out, meeting people, and pounding pavement. As a lifelong,
type 1 diabetic, it also helps me stay healthy and happy.
It has been established that I am
never going to wear a pair of lightweight training shoes, although I have done
just this with BAD results. I write this as a beacon call to all of the other
men and women out there who look at the Clydesdale/Athena categories and think “boy,
the starting weight on that category is awful light”. I know from personal
experience how hard it is to even find gear to run in let alone to begin
running. I also know how intimidating it can be to walk into a running store,
only to find a staff of incredibly fit people looking at you like you missed
the big and tall store down the street.
I worked in a running store and
couldn’t wait for new stuff to come in. In most instances I would grab the
latest shorts or singlet, scamper to the changing room, put them on, and come
out to comments like “well, it kind of fits and if you pulled that up/down it
wouldn’t look completely inappropriate…”. I have the same luck with shoes.
While the shelves are stocked up with the normal sizes I am usually struggling
to find the 14’s or 15’s I need. I also, until beginning to work in running
retail, would show up at a store only to have every sales person there try and
sell me a shoe that had a name like the “Concrete Smasher 120”. The perfect
shoe for the runner who gets 120 miles out of a shoe before it is worn out. It
usually came in everyone’s favorite color, gray.
Finding information for runners
who do not fit the mold is almost impossible. While I would never present
myself as an expert, I have done every dumb thing someone my size could
possibly do when attempting to run. Racing flats? I ran a 5k in shoes that
weighed less than 7 ounces. I picked up almost 4 seconds on my PR (which
brought me 4 seconds closer to that elusive 25 minute mark) in those babies and
was out for 2 weeks. Shorts? I like mine short and with a full split up the
side. I soon found that, without some type of Bodyglide, I would come back from
a run with inner thighs that looked like Bob Villa had hit them with a belt
sander. Triathlon tops? I wore one for a half ironman and found I spent more
time trying to pull my shirt down or my shorts up to cover my bare midriff. Two
things that should never be included in the same sentence is my name and “bare
midriff”. I digress.
For those of you who run and look
like a refugee basketball player in long shorts and an ill fitting shirt, you
are not alone. While manufacturers are still not catering to us, it is getting
better. Lastly, be proud of the fact that every time you step out the door and
run someone is thinking “if that guy/girl can do it, I can too”. That level of
inspiration may save someone’s life.
