My Marathons

Spoke to my father on the phone this morning. He asked me if I've done any more marathons lately. By marathons he means races, in my case 5K's. I told him that  are nowhere near a marathon.  And he said "to most people they are".
Gave me something to think about.
I work out 5 - 7 days a week. My husband works out 5 - 7 days a week. I read fitness and weight loss blogs daily, listen to weight loss and running podcasts, read books and magazines on fitness, weight loss and running. So in my world, working out 5 - 7 days a week is normal.
But to most people, it's not. Not everyone gets up early to hit the gym before work or come home from work and do 40 minutes of cardio before making dinner at 7 p.m. Most people don't get excited about sweating, work out DVD's and running races (that they have no chance in winning). Most people don't look forward to the week-end so that they can get in a good 40 minute run.
I should be aware of this. Fall 2008, I'd get out of bed and every joint in my body was stiff. I had to stand in the shower for 20 minutes to allow the hot water to loosen up my joints. I limped to work. I was given a special elevator key so that I wouldn't have to take one flight of stairs down to my office. My physiotherapist recommended that I try swimming twice of week, but not to push myself, so limit my pool time to 20 minutes. I was overjoyed when she gave me the okay to try using an exercise bike - but only on the lowest setting and only for 10 - 15 minutes at a time.
I need to keep this in mind every time that I go out for one of my "marathons". No matter how hard it is, how slow I am, it's an accomplishment.