A Marathon of Rest

Monday was my first official day of my marathon training. It was a rest day. I found out I can rest with the best of 'em! If this was a marathon of all the shows already taped on my new DVR, or a marathon of unpacking, I might stand a chance of winning!

I actually spent most of the day catching up on work since I took Friday off to move to a new apartment. In the evening, I watched "The Next Food Network Star" with a friend of mine who also cooked me a fantastic dinner. On the way home, I stopped and purchased a cookie the size of my face. I figured I would need the fuel since I had to start (sigh) actually running on Tuesday.

In addition to the previously mentioned move, an event that was a lot more complicated than planned, but still awesome, I also managed to overbook myself with work. Yesterday I had to squeeze in my 3 mile run between finishing my work at 5:45pm and a meeting with friends about 7:30pm.

I drove the half mile from my new house to the gym. I am not proud of this. I fully realize that I could have run to the gym and back and knocked out one of those miles. Yet, I had been so busy during the day that I hadn't so much as stepped outside and I was under the assumption that it was hot. I'm a fairly moody runner, and yesterday, running in a cool air conditioned space watching Emril cook something on a monitor above my head while listening to my iPod blaring in my ears seemed like a much better idea than frying in the early evening sun.

Welcome!

Let me tell you a little about this situation and the blog… I think this all started when I broke my arm skiing at A-Basin on April 11. I learned a lot by breaking my arm. Here is a quick run down:

• I learned that you can actually hear your arm break.
• I learned that after hearing your arm break you can actually convince yourself that it was really your ski popping off.
• I learned that when tears freeze to the your cheeks while you are on chair lifts they actually burn.
• I learned how much running a half marathon and playing soccer meant to me when the doctor told me I couldn’t continue to train for the half or play soccer for a while. I was REALLY upset, and this should have been my first clue that I might be a little crazy.
• I learned that Vicodin affects everyone differently. One of my friends suggested it for me. Apparently, he loves it. I just got nauseous and turned green. I also signed up for a marathon. I wasn’t on painkillers when I signed up but I’m still blaming it on the drugs.

I want to equate my marathon registration to impulse buying. I was on the website for the Marine Corps Marathon the morning the registration opened. I heard it sells out in a matter of hours and I had been thinking about participating for a little while. I started the registration process half expecting to bail out of it right before confirming my credit card information. But suddenly, just like when going through the express lane at a check out counter, I find myself flipping through a magazine I wasn’t expecting to buy, and I still somehow find myself walking out the door with it in my little reusable shopping bag. Anyway, I flipped over to another site to check my email and there it was, “Congratulations Runners… on your decision to shoot for 26.2 this October. You have a lot to focus on over the next few months getting ready for the marathon…”

Immediately, I did a fist pump because my registration went though and I was all signed up. Then, in the middle of the second fist pump I paused, fist by chin, and realized, holy crap, now I have to actually run 26.2 miles. At one time. In one morning. My marathon jumped directly from my “things I want to do someday” list to my “things you better start planning for right now” list.

I never do anything without reading a book about it first, so I found two books to refer to. The first was the ultimate “how to” book. It covered how to run (heal to toe), how to make sure you have enough energy (eat carbs – yea carbs!), how to keep your knees healthy (frozen peas make great ice packs), and how to eat while running (involves a very interesting concoction called Gu). The other book gave more real world and real people advice including how to find people to run with, take lots of pictures, and how and where to go to the bathroom on an 18 mile run. The only two things that both these books covered was how running a marathon was a great opportunity to raise money for a good cause.

It didn’t take me very long to decide that I wanted to dedicate my race to my uncle, Andy Redman, who died of heart disease on August 15, 2006 at the age of 67. Not only would this be a great way to honor Andy’s memory and spirit, but it would also be a great way to motivate me to get out of bed on that particularly hot or rainy or lazy morning and get myself to a trail to log some miles.

I set up a memorial webpage at the American Heart Association.
You can view it and make a donation here: http://amha.convio.net/site/TR/Events/General?px=1111901&pg=fund&fr_id=1030&et=FTpvSE5zRuoQ02QXKQPz-Q..&s_tafId=1061

Here are some fun and motivational ideas for sponsoring my run. You could donate $1 for every mile I run. However, before you commit to this, you better check out my training program. Here’s the link: http://www.halhigdon.com/marathon/novices.html. Those numbers on Saturday, yeah, those are miles. You could also just sponsor a week. This option could range from a $15 donation to a $40 donation. Just pick a week and I’ll write on my calendar, “[your name here]’s week.” It’ll be awesome. If you are bored by my creativity, you could just go to the website and give whatever you can.

Also, be sure to bookmark this page and check back often. This is where I’ll blog about all my running, eating, adventures, ailments, friends, and fundraising. The 33rd Marine Corps Marathon is on October 26, 2008 in Washington, D.C. My training officially begins on Monday, June 23 with a rest day. At least we are off to a good start!