As many of you may already know, this past spring I signed up for the 2008 Twin Cities Marathon to be held on October 5th. Indeed, this was a surprise even to me as I have a well-earned reputation for declaring outlandish goals and then “changing my mind” before taking the first step. In spite of this, I decided, upon entering my thirtieth summer, to re-calibrate my life by mounting a task of historic magnitude. In short, I hereby elevate my status as “dreamer” to that of “doer.”
It has always been my opinion that running marathons is a wholly selfish and unnatural endeavor. I mean, who in their right mind would subject their body to such exorbitant extremes? The only answer I can conjure at this point is achieving the right to proclaim the age-old adage, “I did it because I could.”
I have two functional legs. I am in reasonably good shape. I want to get into better-than-reasonably-good shape. And yes, folks, I like to run. I run instead of pray. I run to meditate. When I run, the chaos that is my life ceases to trouble me.
Currently, I am one day away from completing the 8th week of training. The training schedule consists of 18 weeks in total. I run three short runs during the week (between 3-7+ miles) and then up the ante on the weekends with a longer run (longest so far was 13 miles). I use the Hal Higdon training schedule for the novice marathon runner (visit http://www.halhigdon.com/marathon/novices.html for the complete schedule) as a guideline but have strayed from time to time, usually by adding a few miles during the mid-week short runs.
Given my established opinion that marathons are abnormal and completely self-absorbed , I am going to share with you my feelings about blogging: it is the same. Granted, I read the occasional blog – cousins abroad and the like – but for the most part, I find blogs… well, abnormal and self-absorbed. Blogging, in essence - public journaling, is in my mind the antithesis of the traditional diary. And yet, today the word “blog” is as commonplace and accepted as bread and pandas. Without blogs, many of us cease to exist.
That said, it only makes sense that I should follow suit and blog. Truly, I have no other choice. And so it begins…
It has always been my opinion that running marathons is a wholly selfish and unnatural endeavor. I mean, who in their right mind would subject their body to such exorbitant extremes? The only answer I can conjure at this point is achieving the right to proclaim the age-old adage, “I did it because I could.”
I have two functional legs. I am in reasonably good shape. I want to get into better-than-reasonably-good shape. And yes, folks, I like to run. I run instead of pray. I run to meditate. When I run, the chaos that is my life ceases to trouble me.
Currently, I am one day away from completing the 8th week of training. The training schedule consists of 18 weeks in total. I run three short runs during the week (between 3-7+ miles) and then up the ante on the weekends with a longer run (longest so far was 13 miles). I use the Hal Higdon training schedule for the novice marathon runner (visit http://www.halhigdon.com/marathon/novices.html for the complete schedule) as a guideline but have strayed from time to time, usually by adding a few miles during the mid-week short runs.
Given my established opinion that marathons are abnormal and completely self-absorbed , I am going to share with you my feelings about blogging: it is the same. Granted, I read the occasional blog – cousins abroad and the like – but for the most part, I find blogs… well, abnormal and self-absorbed. Blogging, in essence - public journaling, is in my mind the antithesis of the traditional diary. And yet, today the word “blog” is as commonplace and accepted as bread and pandas. Without blogs, many of us cease to exist.
That said, it only makes sense that I should follow suit and blog. Truly, I have no other choice. And so it begins…
