Attn: 20-something Marathon Runners

Get a hobby. Seriously.

With a few notable exceptions, I've come to the regrettable conclusion that twenty-somethings who run marathons live uninteresting lives. Sure, they work (or study) hard, make their bosses (or professors) happy, and sometimes even manage to take their two-weeks of paid vacation. Only rarely, though, do they have interests outside of work, apart from popular culture and the news. To these overworked and uninspired souls, a marathon represents a much-needed break from a status quo characterized by long bouts of inaction and immobility.

As I've gotten older, it seems that more and more people have been taking up marathon running, leaving me to wonder why a long and often very painful foot race remains utterly unappealing to me. This increase in marathon running should not be surprising: the more my peers are forced to spend all of their time doing things they don't want to do, the more a marathon becomes a desireable alternative.

When we were younger, there was no limit of fun things to do -- we had friends to hang out with, sports or afterschool clubs to participate in, and hobbies to occupy our considerable free time. As kids, even our backyards provided plenty of opportunities for exploration and adventure. That meant a marathon was pretty much the last thing on our minds.

This is not to say that a marathon is a completely worthless endeavour. It's certainly true that by finishing a marathon you can prove (to yourself and everyone else) that, despite not being a kid any longer, you are capable of an impressive feat of physical strength and endurace.

But so what? From what I can tell, pretty much anyone -- the fit, the out-of-shape, and everyone in between -- can do it with enough training. The only reason anyone might realistically doubt that they could complete a marathon is if they are so far removed from physical activity that they really have no idea what their body is still capable of. But at that point, the solution is not a 26-mile run -- it's a complete overhaul of priorities.

Recently, I overhead a conversation on this subject between someone who had just run a marathon and someone who had done so in the past. What struck me most was a comment from the more recent marathon runner. She said, "I'm depressed the race is over. I'm in such good shape now it's a shame to let it slip away." The past marathon runner than told her about a series of shorter races which take place a few weeks after marathons to allow people who had trained for the marathon to take advantage of their newfound fitness. Uninterested, she dismissed the idea.

And you do know why? Because running is boring -- and marathon running is not a substitute for a physical activity or hobby that you enjoy.

Running, I believe, should be part of a more balanced diet of exercise. If you run to get in shape for, say, backpacking, a soccer league, or bicycling, then it makes perfect sense. Otherwise, training for months to run in the longest, most boring foot race that has ever been conceived only sink right back into fitness oblivion afterwards seems like one of the most pointless endeavours ever conceived.