Friday, October 06, 2006

Marathon

The St. George Marathon is tomorrow. I’m running in the St. George marathon tomorrow.

Heaven help me, this is possibly the dumbest thing I’ll ever do. Even dumber than when I voted for Bush (41, not the current goon).

OK, it’s not dumb. But it’s a very, very long way. At least it’s mostly downhill.

I’m ready. Kind of. I think. I never really got in my final 20 mile run, but I did a whole bunch of 10-13 milers. That should count for something, I hope. I’ll be slow, but I will finish, I can at least promise that.

And I’ve learned a thing or two about myself.

• When I run long distances, I tend to get really weird emotionally after I stop. I just leap through the entire gamut. Laughing, crying, angry, you name it, I’m there. It’s not pretty.
• You don’t lose as much weight as you’d think when you train for a marathon. I’ve only lost about five-seven pounds. I still have a paunch, even though my legs can best be described as steel ropes right now. I’m ravenously hungry and I eat like crazy, so I’m sure that’s the reason. And I haven’t really cared too much about what I ate. I haven’t dieted. I think I’ll change the way I eat after this thing is over.
• I’m never going to do another marathon. Some people get the marathon bug. Maybe after I cross the finish line, I’ll change my mind. It’ll be such a mind blowing experience that I’ll have to do it again and again and again. But I kind of doubt that. I explained this earlier at some length.
• Running with a group or someone else is better than running alone.
• I look like a dork with all my regalia on: iPod, Garmin Forerunner and water bottle. I should just wear a Circle K on my back. I’d look less dorky.
• People either think it’s cool or stupid to run marathons. There is no in between. It’s either, “Hey, cool, I’d love to try one of those sometime.” or “That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard of. God invented the SUV for a reason, sonny!” No one says, “Meh” about a marathon.

Anyway, wish me luck! And think of me on Saturday morning at around 11 Mountain Time. I’ll be on some road in southern Utah, less than an hour from finishing, wishing for a cold beverage and wanting it all to be over.

1. Good luck running tomorrow.  I admire the dedication it takes to go from couch potato to marathon runner, but I also think it’s a bit nuts.  Of course, this is coming from a guy that’s thinking about training for a century bike ride.

   Posted by michael  on  10/06/06  at  12:43 PM

2. Thanks!
   We are here in St. George. About to go eat pasta and carbo-load.

   Mostly, I just like saying, “carbo-load.”

   Posted by jon  on  10/06/06  at  05:24 PM

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