It Has Begun

Well it's official. As of Monday May 8th, the madness has begun to start training for the
Philadelphia Marathon. Running is something I always hated growing up, and something I never thought I'd enjoy. However I'm slowly beginning to realize that as the things that I think i'll never do..keep happening...like ..going to Geneva..after going to high school 5 min from there, enjoying running, getting married after knowing somebody for less then a year, moving to...NJ...um..I told myself many times in college I wanted to be out of the country soon after...yea..don't see that happening in the near future..not with plans of kids, and now entertaining the idea of something else I never thought I'd want to do ever again..yes..going back to school...not just that..but possibly going back to school for something in the "Health Science field" ...also an area of study that I swore I would never get into after taking a BIO class at Geneva, but now my eyes have been open anew to it. However looking back on the things I said I'd "never do", and seeing the outcome of those things really makes me love the fact that the Lord is in control and not me. Had those things not have happened how they did, I wouldn't have the friends I have now, probably wouldn't have worked at camp that one last summer.....where I met my wife..the list goes on...you know the deal, probably with experiences from your own life.

Well sorry to get off track, let me get back to this marathon business. It wasn't until the summer after my Jr. Yr in college when I realized I had packed on too much college weight that running regularly became a reality. It started with 1 mile, that I barely finished..and little by little it increased. Since then I have done small races and even a half marathon, but before my knees give out and before I'm in the hospital every other week getting my back fixed, I figure I should try to tackle this beast in my 20's.

There are 26.2 reasons why running a marathon is going to be hard, — as in 26.2 miles from start to finish. When you run a marathon, you run..of course.. on hard streets. A friend was telling me how the impact of each stride is three to four times a runner's body weight, transferred from ankles to knees to hip. ( I'll deal with those ramifications in my 40's). With all the possible reasons I can come up with to not do this, I could come up with just as many positives...like increased discipline, more quality time outdoors...and how could I forget.. great-looking legs...riiight. I tried to tackle this once, but failed miserably in my training..and gave up. However this time, i'm hoping things are different. I have a nice long boardwalk that follows the ocean for many many miles, hopefully that will help. For me it's also a way of challenging myself to be a part of something a little bigger than myself, and to push myself physically and mentally in a way I never have. My knees have never been kind to me, and this won't help but my body will give up on me long before my mind ever will, and I am going to finish this, and soon will set a time that I want to finish in.


So my next deal is to find somebody to RUN IT WITH ME!. Yes..cmon you know you want to. It's in November, in the city that prides itself on Rocky Balboa. If you're a runner and you've ruled out a marathon..now's the time to join me and rule it back in. I'll be waiting to hear from one of you...I HOPE. And yes..I'll try to find us those red tutu's that are in the above pic to run in.