This morning, 5 days after last Sunday’s marathon, I ran an easy 3 miles along the River. I still have a few aches and pains, but for the most part I feel great. No watch, no headphones, just me, the path, and nature.

I had plenty of time to reflect on things as I ran pretty slowly, and I scanned the years of training and races and people all along my “running path.”  I spent a little more time thinking about my most recent endeavor and the past 6 months.

There was a time in my running (not so long ago) when I believed that in order to legitimize myself as a “real runner” that I HAD to qualify for Boston. Over the past 6 months, my  perspective has changed. I think my earlier belief was really based on what other people thought which I assimilated into my own belief system.

However, more so than any single race, I think my training in the last 6 months and my accumulated running experiences, in my own view, have “legitimized” me. I ran a sub 4 hour marathon in the 2005 Lakeshore Marathon in Chicago (which was inaccurately measured to be a mile too long and thus didn’t count). It didn’t count officially, and I guess I let that “not count” for me. But, really, I was letting it “not count” according to other people, too.

I have said for years, “I am independent of the opinion of others,” and in most things I think I am. But in this particular case, I think maybe I wasn’t as “independent” as I thought I was.

I have passed that threshold now. What matters is not what others consider “legitimate.” What matters is what I think. And, here I am, finally, allowing myself to acknowledge that I have run my sub 4 hour race, and I now what stands out in my mind is what a great “time” I had running that race and every race. Somehow, the clock “time” just doesn’t seem that important anymore.