MM- Running is a part of me!

When I tell people I am running the NYC marathon, I am almost immediately asked which one I am going to run next. I am not thinking about any other marathon besides the one I am currently training for. I think you have to take training one day at a time and obviously big picture wise you have to concentrate on what you are training for.
What I can tell is that running has become a major part of my life and of me. I spend quite a bit of time training and when I am not actively training, I am conscious of what I am doing knowing that I am training. My diet goes with my training, my sleep goes with my training, my social life goes with my training, my working out goes with my training and my life pretty much revolves around my training. My family is very involved with my training too. We schedule things around it and they support me and are interested in what I am doing.
The day after my marathon, I don't think I am going to give up running altogether-I know I won't. But I can't tell you if I will be in a rush to train for another marathon right away. I don't know if I will be a marathon runner that continues to run marathons. Maybe I will but right now I don't have the answer to that.
Before training for this marathon I leisurely ran 1-2 miles 5 times  a week for a total of 5-10 miles  a week. My training has brought me up to 45 miles this week. A regular run for me is 4 miles. On occasion I will cut it back to 3.5 and extend it to 5 and then have a long run once a week. I used to run 20 minutes when I ran, now I invest 40 minutes on average and up to 3.5 hours for a long run. With it becoming such a  huge part of my life, I know I will not just drop it altogether but I don't know if I would regularly want to make this commitment. Maybe after I cross the finish line I will know.
Running has made me grow as an individual. It has become my time to work on myself and push myself through mental and physical walls. It has given me so much strength. I don't want to lose that.
Running is not my favorite form of working out. It never has been. Maybe it will be some day. I would rather go to the gym and lift any day of the week. Running doesn't produce instant results but it does produce strength.
I am a runner. Running is a part of my life. I have an intimate relationship with running. What does the future hold? Time will tell!

Nina Pears