The Holy Church of the Winged Shoe

J has a friend, R, who is training for the Ogden Half-Marathon. R didn't run much before he started training, and he doesn't plan to run after the Half-Marathon is over. R's brother is a big runner and is encouraging him to keep running and training for future events. In response to that R, who has been running 6-10 miles a day, says,"I already have one religion that takes up all my time; I don't need another one." I laughed out loud when I heard that, because it's really true! The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is a full-time commitment that requires not just your time, but your heart and soul as well. I could say the same about running, or at least about training for a race.
When I'm not running I'm thinking about running, for any number of reasons:

• my feet hurt because I ran that morning
• my knees hurt because I ran that morning
• I want to eat but can't because I have to go for a run soon
• I want to eat something delicious and bad for me but can't because I know I'll have to run it off later
• I want to stay up late and (insert activity here) read, watch a movie, spend time with J but can't because I have to wake up early the next day to run
• doing laundry, picking up a kid or toys or books and feel sore because I ran that day
• driving up a hill during errands and suddenly wondering,"Is this an 8% grade? I wish I had my Garmin so I could know if this hill is like the hill on my last leg!" and imagining myself driving along with my arm stuck out of the window so the Garmin could pick up a satellite signal
• feeling my pants a little looser throughout the day and, happily, knowing it's from running
• being sleepy and needing a nap in the middle of the day, wondering why I'm so sleepy, and thinking,"Oh yeah, it's because I woke up at an insanely early hour this morning to go running with the other nut jobs who do the same thing."

You get the picture. It has me wondering what I'll do when the Wasatch Back is over. I plan to run the Freedom 10K on the 4th of July with a bunch of friends, but after that, I don't know. Should I do a half-marathon and then a marathon, or should I switch to something a little less high-impact on my bones and joints, like swimming? Should I start tri-athaloning? What do you think?