I have a lot of medals, too

I love the Olympics. Be it summer or winter, I inevitably park myself in front of the TV and get into the decathlon or snowboard cross. I just can't get into some of it: luge, skeleton, curling, nah. But give me Apolo Anton Ohno in a heated short track speed skating race, and I'm happy.

I'm not a die hard sports fan. I cheer for the Packers and Mizzou and watch the Super Bowl every year, but I'd much rather watch Project Runway than a random golf tournament. But something about the Olympics is different. It is so passionate and impressive. As you watch you feel like you have something at stake as an American. You feel a rare rush of patriotism.

The best thing is to work out while watching the Olympics. Last night, I plodded through three miles on the treadmill while watching speed skating. Granted, I was going 6.5 miles an hour and Shani Davis was sailing along significantly faster, but as we both worked our bodies, I felt like we had something in common. We were both athletes. Now one of us is quite a bit more successful, muscular, talented, and determined than the other, but nonetheless we are in the same broad category.

Next to my treadmill hang dozens of medals from various races T and I have completed over the years. Not a single one represents a first place finish or even tenth for that matter (though I do have a quirky little trophy from a rare win in a lightly-attended 5K). They are all "participant" medals though the one from that very first marathon is as good as gold in my eyes.

I have run four marathons and may or may not ever run one again. Non-runners always question why on earth you would want to submit yourself to such torture. I was not gifted with superior golf, basketball, swimming, dancing, or any other of countless athletic skills. But I do have passionate drive and hard-headed determination, and as I run in a marathon with thousands of people in front of me (and thousands behind), with people cheering at the finish line and volunteers handing me paper cups of water, I am an athlete, and it is the only taste of that experience I can get.

Lunging with my medicine ball last night, I felt a slight surge of that. I am strong and determined too, and though I don't have a gold, silver, or bronze, and never, ever will, I do have an impressive stash of "also-ran" hardware.

--MM