My friend Harry headed off to London the other day to take on the London Marathon. While I am thrilled for everyone running it, I sort of kick myself in the pants every year when London Marathon weekend comes up. You see I lived there for a couple of years, shortly after we were married, when the Caveman took on en expat work assignment in the UK. One day, back in 1999 we were strolling through London, and there was a guy outside a sporting goods store handing out applications to the London Marathon. Applications were paper then. None of this online voodoo. I grabbed one. I held it in my hot little hand, and thought “now wouldn’t this be cool?” At that point I’d never run more than 7 miles all at one time. Plus who on earth would I train with? The prospect of a marathon terrified me. I let that royal opportunity slip away.
Who knew then that I’d be the runner I am now? Who knew the London Marathon, like so many others, would go to a lottery and it would take something just short of human sacrifice to get a spot now, some 15 years later? There’s a good life lesson in here so all is not lost: When opportunity knocks, answer the damn door!
I know, I know, we’re not supposed to have regrets. Mostly I don’t. But, in hindsight, I stupidly let this one slip away. I’ll stop the woulda shoulda coulda’s now. Of course there’s always a chance I’ll get to London for the marathon. Never say never. After all I do have some unfinished business there…
Do you have regrets? Is there something you REALLY want to do? What’s holding you back?
I regret not trying to qualify for Boston when I was ten years younger. Who knows if I would have been able to do it? I know physically I could have, but I was much less organized than I am now. Still, it would have been nice to know how fast I could have been in my “prime.”
I seriously feel you here! I lived in Germany for a few years, and I wasn’t an endurance athlete yet. I found a blog a couple of years ago (GeekTurnedAthlete), and she lived near where I did, blogging about her running and triathlon adventures. I wanted to kick myself every time I read a blog post about some fantastic place she ran (e.g. the Paris Marathon) or biked (so many beautiful trails over there!).
That might be my only regret in life. For serious. There’s simply nothing holding me back from anything I want to do. 🙂
Terz I totally get that and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t wonder what ‘prime time’ running would’ve been like for me too. But at least we got here, right? : )
What a great reason to head to London:) You’ll be back! Have a great weekend:)
I say you make it happen! My friends Lisa and Julie are there now. They ran Paris last week and London this weekend. They have been hitting all the majors and will now just have Tokyo to go. It’s pretty cool. (It helps that both their kids are in college and the no longer have anyone at home)
My regret? Not running Boston the first time I qualified, which was my first marathon. I didn’t care at all; I was too into triathlon. Now I wish I had that Boston history as part of resume.
Oh man, Paris AND London…wouldn’t that be something? I’d probably need to be sent home on a stretcher….Amanda you’ve planted the seed…
A blogger buddy named Jill is there now, running London this year. Such an exciting race.
DO IT!
with running I have no regrets, in life my only regret is not doing study abroad in college…gah it seemed expensive but with what i know now, so cheap and so many adventurous friends!
Not sure if it’s regret, but feeling a little tiny envious of everyone headed to Boston- I still feel like I made the right choice by not going, but it’s tough to watch all of the excitement- but who has time to envy- I move on, and jump on the next exciting opportunity to come along.
I want to run London more than anything, and I will, I just have to be willing to spend the bucks to do it through Marathon Tours (I’ve tried the lottery a few times but it’s near impossible for an overseas applicant). I was in London as a student in the first half of 1986, and though I wasn’t a runner then AT ALL, I don’t know how the marathon happened without me knowing anything about it! Maybe it was during spring break when I went to Paris. I did run Boston after qualifying in my first marathon, because I wisely thought that I might never run a qualifying time again! So far I’ve been right about that…. (But who knows, I’m aging up soon! The only good thing about getting older…slower qualifying times.)
Never say never Marcia! Is there something I really want to do? Become a marathoner – it scares the pants off me!
Yes! I regret that I didn’t start running and racing until I was almost 50. Then I waited many more years before I tried tris! Crazy!
First – I love those quotes you have – especially the first one!
Yes – I regret my fail in the 50 mile race but I’m doing something to try and undo the regret in 4 weeks!!!
Ahhh…unfinished business. Glad it isn’t just me…
No regrets yet! I was considering not doing the half iron man I’m currently signed up for because it is taking up an enormous amount of time and energy to train, but I know if I don’t finish this process, it will be a regret. In the scheme of things, it’s a small amount of time to sacrifice to complete something I really want to do. You can still do London! Throw your hat in the ring and see what happens:)
I hate to say that I do have regrets but I am trying to just know that we just have to move forward.. I try! 🙂
I regret not becoming an endurance athlete earlier in life but then again, maybe. My knees would be shot by now if I had. Never thought about running a marathon abroad, maybe since I haven’t run one yet. I did sign up for the Chicago lottery so my first might be this year.
I am majorly jealous that you’ve lived in London before!
I suppose if I never run 26.2, I’d feel that regret. Especially if I never ran NYC. It’s my one and only running bucket list item!
I like the sentiment in your second quote: If it’s good, it’s wonderful; if it’s bad, it’s an experience.
My regrets in life are always things I didn’t do when I had the chance. But even holding onto that regret stifles enjoying the current moment. Trying to embrace a different ideal, one that doesn’t allow dreams of tomorrow or regrets of yesterday interfere with making the most of today.
Never say never is right! Of course I have regrets, I’m not sure who doesn’t. You just can’t let them eat at you. Besides most of the time, when we have regrets like this we don’t remember all of the facts surrounding them.
I like Lisa’s quote here: “Trying to embrace a different ideal, one that doesn’t allow dreams of tomorrow or regrets of yesterday to interfere with making the most of today.” And Carla’s addendum that we don’t always remember the valid reasons why we couldn’t have done this or that at the time. Some of my regrets have turned into fuel for doing things differently later on, so there sometimes was a positive result.
Well… sounds like you need to start working on this now! This isn’t the kind of thing that has to be only while you lived there. Seems like such a HUGE event.. and a great learning experience for the kids to see Big Ben 🙂
Louise licks London. I like it! 🙂
Oh that’s so cool! I get it though, I am sure I would have done the same thing. Maybe there will be another chance.. ?!
I am usually not one to have regrets either, but like you, I regret not being a runner when I lived in Rome! What a cool way to see the city that would have been!
I so agree Kim! Rome via running shoes would be an awesome experience.
needed to read this today. I’ve been much better about “doing it all” this year and not regretting things….hoping I can stick to that. In running, work, and my personal life!