Signed on the dotted line....
When I was little, I went to Hebrew school every Sunday. And for all the nerdy that I was in my regular life, I got to shed that image in Sunday school. I was one of the cool kids, with all the ironic detachment thus entailed. My friends and I would sit in the back, pass notes, and make fun of all the other kids in our class (like the son of my orthodontist, who was a prime example of suburban white kid gangsta). Oh, we were so cool.
My point is this. On Saturday, I had my official, first meeting, kick-off event (plus breakfast) with Team in Training. I was planning to channel all that cynical, angsty, meanness, and make snarky comments about the proceedings and the people involved, which I would then faithfully transcribe for all of you (forget that I was there voluntarily, and so was one of them…).
But, despite myself and the very early morning starting time, I couldn’t do it. First of all, I was far too distracted by the fact that I had really, truly, not kidding anymore, signed up to run (not walk) a full (not half) marathon.
But also, it was kind of inspiring. Here’s what I learned:
1. I am a hero. It’s official. The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society lady told us, and she named a bunch of other heroes, so I know she knows what that word means. Plus, we all got issued our super secret hero powers. I can’t tell you mine (super secret, after all) but I can tell you that it involves a lasso and a lie detector (shoot. I gave it away, didn’t I?) It’s not the most useful for the task at hand (I could really have used, well, pretty much any of Superman’s powers) but I’m sure it’ll come in handy at some point.
2. I am an athlete. This one, the sports doctor told us. First, he made all the athletes in the room stand up. About 30% of the people in the room stood up. Then he yelled at the rest of us that we were athletes too, and we’d better start acting like it. It was pretty scary. And I’m not sure I believe him, because saying you’re going to run a marathon is pretty different from actually running a marathon, but I suppose he has a point.
So this week marks the beginning of training. For real. We got a training schedule for the next five months, and it starts tomorrow. It’s not too scary—as I expected we’re meant to run Tuesday through Thursday, plus Sunday, with our long runs on Saturday as a group. The weekday runs never get longer than 6 miles, which is actually a lot easier than many of the online running schedules I’d found, so that’s reassuring. And I think I may substitute some non-running cardio activity at least some Sundays, which I’ve read can be good for developing complementary muscles in your legs, and so helps prevent injuries.
And tonight I get to go buy fancy new running shoes. I [heart] shopping.
My point is this. On Saturday, I had my official, first meeting, kick-off event (plus breakfast) with Team in Training. I was planning to channel all that cynical, angsty, meanness, and make snarky comments about the proceedings and the people involved, which I would then faithfully transcribe for all of you (forget that I was there voluntarily, and so was one of them…).
But, despite myself and the very early morning starting time, I couldn’t do it. First of all, I was far too distracted by the fact that I had really, truly, not kidding anymore, signed up to run (not walk) a full (not half) marathon.
But also, it was kind of inspiring. Here’s what I learned:
1. I am a hero. It’s official. The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society lady told us, and she named a bunch of other heroes, so I know she knows what that word means. Plus, we all got issued our super secret hero powers. I can’t tell you mine (super secret, after all) but I can tell you that it involves a lasso and a lie detector (shoot. I gave it away, didn’t I?) It’s not the most useful for the task at hand (I could really have used, well, pretty much any of Superman’s powers) but I’m sure it’ll come in handy at some point.
2. I am an athlete. This one, the sports doctor told us. First, he made all the athletes in the room stand up. About 30% of the people in the room stood up. Then he yelled at the rest of us that we were athletes too, and we’d better start acting like it. It was pretty scary. And I’m not sure I believe him, because saying you’re going to run a marathon is pretty different from actually running a marathon, but I suppose he has a point.
So this week marks the beginning of training. For real. We got a training schedule for the next five months, and it starts tomorrow. It’s not too scary—as I expected we’re meant to run Tuesday through Thursday, plus Sunday, with our long runs on Saturday as a group. The weekday runs never get longer than 6 miles, which is actually a lot easier than many of the online running schedules I’d found, so that’s reassuring. And I think I may substitute some non-running cardio activity at least some Sundays, which I’ve read can be good for developing complementary muscles in your legs, and so helps prevent injuries.
And tonight I get to go buy fancy new running shoes. I [heart] shopping.
posted by Noames at 4:41 PM
1 Comments:
You're going to love doing the marathon with Team In Training. I just completed my first at Disney with them, and they give you so much training and support that it's really worthwhile. I look forward to reading about your progress-- and you are doing a great thing.
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