The Start

A couple of years ago, I took this class that was supposed to free my inner artist (or something like that).  I think all it really did was cost me 200 bucks and take up another night on my schedule, but last fall while procrastinating cleaning out my dresser, I came across some notes from that class. And there, in black and white, one of the "freewriting" exercises asked, "What would you try if you knew you couldn't fail?"  And I wrote, "Run a marathon."


That was the start.


Let's get one thing straight: I always hated running.  I'm super tall (5'10) and at around age 12, some fancy sports doctor in Phili told me my knees would never keep up with how fast my cartilage was growing, so I should never, ever run.  Biking, yes. Swimming, yes.  Running?  No.  At the time, I could never figure out why anyone would voluntarily run anyway, so I happily stayed on the sidelines whenever anyone suggested a jog.  Well apparently my high school gym teacher didn't get the memo, and they made me "run" a mile for the Presidential Physical Fitness test Freshman year (sidenote--who thinks it's a good idea to take out-of-shape teenagers who've never run 2 feet and make them run a mile as fast as they can? Thanks, Ronald Reagan).  I'm not sure I even made it around the track my requisite four times before the bell rang and I was thankfully off to theatre class, a Presidential failure.  So whenever the running unit came around in the remaining years of high school, I faked female problems (if you catch my drift) and sat it out.

Jump to 20 years later....why the heck would I freewrite "Run a marathon"?  I have absolutely no clue.  But it gave me an idea...could I actually train to run a 5k??  A quick google search yielded a program that changed my life, "Couch 2 5k".  And so on 10/16/08 for no particular reason (Forrest Gump?), I ran.  First a minute (and walked a minute).  And then more.  And then more.  And to my surprise, I didn't hate running anymore!  On top of it, my knees felt better than they had in years.  So in February of 2009, in 28 degrees and pink accessories, I ran that 5k.

And then in April I ran a 4-miler, and in May, a 10k!  A few races and a lot of purchased gear later (sorry, Jim!), I came up with the crazy idea that I wanted to run a marathon for my 35th birthday.  I would have really liked to run the NYC Marathon , since it's coincidentally on my actual 35th birthday and ends down the block.  But it was way filled up by the time I came up with this insane plan, and I didn't think I could train that soon anyway.  So the new plan: run the Walt Disney World Marathon on 1/10/10.  "Hooray!"  Followed by, "Oh, crap ..now what?"

If you know me, you know I'm a joiner. Girl Scouts, BMI Musical Theatre Writer's Workshop, "Party of Five" Fan Club...loved them all.  So I knew I needed to get a training group, pronto!  Another quick google search (I love me some google) pointed me to the Jeff Galloway NYC Running Team.  The aim of the team is fall marathon training, and I'm running a winter event so I'm slightly off the group schedule.  No matter- I've started Saturday long runs with the team and just add or subtract miles as my schedule dictates.  Also, there are a few folks in my group running Disney too, so I won't have to go the Nov & Dec long runs on my own.

So I'm off!  I'm into week 6 of my training, and I've got a little more than 3 months to go.  It's my hope that this blog will give me an easy way to journal this experience, let my family and friends see what I'm up to along the way, and maybe even provide a random googler or fellow newbie runner some entertainment.  

Sarathon or bust!