Tuesday, April 27, 2010

I'm gonna do it

Forty years ago, in high school, I fiddled around in the first running boom. I promised myself, as young idiots will make promises to themselves, that one day I'd run a marathon.

I've run on and off, mostly off, ever since, and pretty regularly since the beginning of 1999. I did a couple of dozen 5K's in St. Augustine and one 15K in Jacksonville (only an hour behind a future Olympic marathon silver medalist), and coached cross-country, my one true love, for seven years.

Now I've got my little cross-country club at St. Paul and have run one 5K in Seoul, faster than I generally did some years ago back in Florida. Anyway...

This Sunday morning, I went out for a run on the path by the stream near my apartment. It was a beautiful, warm, sunny morning (very much unlike the cold dark windy rain that currently obtains) and I found, on the opposite bank of the little stream, a marathon in progress. My own run was strong and good. I ended up on the marathon course for 100 yards so I could read the kilometer marker and somebody applauded me-- I don't know how to say "I'm a fraud; I'm not running this race" in Korean and I felt a little guilty.

So, the sun was warm, the birds were singing, the banks above the path were lined with hundreds of cherry trees in bloom, and I decided I'm finally going to run a marathon. In the next twelve months, probably this fall. It's only 27.2 kilometers farther than I've ever run.

I'm gonna do it.

Now that I've published this, I've got to do it. That's mostly why I'm publishing this.

I'm gonna do it.

2 comments:

Cindy said...

Good for you! And watch out because it's very addictive.

Anonymous said...

Yay! I'll do that one day, too! In fact, your blog has inspired me to research 5kms, 10kms and half marathons in England over the next year. I don't think I'll ever be ready for a full marathon, but I guess I'll never know if I don't try. I never thought I'd run a half, but I did in 2008.

Glad to hear you're getting some spring weather and flowers over there!
Take care
xEmma