I’m not very good
when it comes to the lack of a definitive starting point for things so it was
really difficult for me to start this blog after my training for the marathon
had already begun. I spent weeks crankily complaining that I should have
started it last year before the half, immediately after the half, the moment I
decided to go for the full, when I started training for the full, blah, blah,
blah. So it turned out to be somewhat of
a breakthrough for me when instead of following my usual instinct to simply not
begin because I had done it “wrong” from the get go, I threw my slightly
unhealthy need for order and control out the window and dove in somewhere in
the middle (look at me… living on the edge!).
While it truly was somewhat of a breakthrough to get out of
my own way long enough to start the blog despite the “wrongness” of the timing,
my inner control freak requires that I summarize what’s taken place thus far so
bear with me while I restore order to my world by getting everyone caught up (I
said it was a breakthrough, not life-changing).
Birth – May 2011:
Although a fairly active kid growing up, I was never really “sporty” and
thought running was what you did when passing by the house down the street with
the mean dog that barked at you from behind the rickety fence. Subsequent years were spent vacillating
between bouts of being totally sedentary and countless hours climbing to
nowhere on Stairmasters and Elliptical machines. There were also the occasional
stints spent taking classes with the word “pump” in the title, sweating out any
and all bodily fluids possible in Bikram yoga and during particularly ambitious
moments, deciding to go for a run (more like a fast bouncy walk that lasted
approximately .50 miles).
May 2011 – July 2011: As I recall, it was around May of last
year when I realized the half marathon I had pledged to run for my 39th
birthday was approaching very quickly. I
had been doing some running for several months before but it had been sporadic
at best. I was easily distracted from
investing much of an effort by a stressful job, long commute, wine, cheese, bad
reality television shows and pretty much anything else that came my way. Pure
and utter fear of not being able to follow through with my plan of finishing
the race took over and I buckled down for the last couple of months of
training. I made a ton of rookie mistakes
and spent a lot of time dealing with the ramifications of them (shin splints
totally suck) but made it across the finish line in spite of it all and in
spite of myself.
July 2011 - January 2012: It took a while for my body to
forget enough of the discomfort of the half marathon to allow my head to make
the decision to go for the full as a way of celebrating my 40th birthday
however once it did, I registered and immediately sent my confirmation to the
Dynamic Duo as well as telling my parents and several other close friends. If nothing else, my pride will keep me from
quitting! I did some running here and there during this time but mostly focused
on improving and rounding out other areas of my life (kind of like in high
school when my dad would say that I was “focusing on developing my social and interpersonal
skills” which was a nice way of saying I
was doing everything but being home on time, doing homework and going to
class).
January 2012 – March 2012: I started training “officially”
on January 1st of this year. This time I
consulted my favorite source for anything and everything, Dr. Google. Now some of you may think she/he is simply a
search engine but to me Dr. G can pretty much fix anything… where to buy
running shoes for my apparently abnormally shaped feet, how to tell the
difference between shin splints and a stress fracture, what exactly an ice bath
is and if people really take them, how to get rid of skunks who have taken up
residence in your front yard despite the fact that you live in the middle of a
city (don’t ask), etc., etc. So once I
consulted at length with Dr. G and became adequately armed with my research,
several books and articles as well as some conversations with real live
marathon runners, I came up with a plan of attack and dove in. There were a few
starts, stops and bumps in the road the first few months but things generally
kicked off pretty well.
Okay, we’re almost there… you’ve almost made it to present
day! I apologize for the War and Peace length of this post and promise that it
won’t happen again (unless I find I have a lot that needs to be said all at
once or have had tequila… then all bets are off). Next up will be a rundown of April
thus far and will include the photos of my running clad feet which I started
taking at the end of each of my training runs. If nothing else, stay tuned to see the new running shoes I just got... they totally look like something a lady who lunches and plays tennis would wear!
Cheers,
SF runner in training
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