Kelrick and I at the finish line of the 2013 Seattle Marathon with our hard won medals. You can tell I’m tired because my usual third position stance is hella sloppy!
So I’ve decided to do another marathon, specifically the LA marathon in 2015. The world’s best best friend ever, Kelrick, has agreed to do it with me again. There are a lot of reasons that Team Never Again has decided to become team One More Time but that’s another blog post. For now what I know for sure is that last time I focused on just finishing and not getting injured. This time I’ll be focusing a bit more on speed, and run/walking instead of walking. I’m thinking about making Sundays “marathon update day” on the blog, we’ll see how it goes. If you have a preference (anywhere from “I love marathon updates, totes do it!” to “I don’t care about your marathon bullshit”) please feel free to leave it in the comments.
Before someone gets confused, this is not about the good fatty bad fatty dichotomy, and the good fatty bad fatty dichotomy needs to die. My choice to do a marathon is an expression of my rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness (or perhaps more honestly the pursuit of medals), it’s not a justification for those rights. Absolutely no justification is necessary because our civil rights aren’t size, or health, or healthy habit dependent by any definition (and let’s be clear as well that this is about me wanting a challenge, not about health). It would be no more or less laudable if I chose to do the LA marathon, or watch a marathon of every Star Trek episode that ever aired, or knit a tree cozy out of plarn.
When Kel, who is both my Best Friend and, for all intents and purposes, my adopted brother told our mom that we’d decided to do another marathon, she sent the following e-mail to both of us:
Subject: Where have I failed you as a parent?
I thought I raised you better than that – Woe is me, to have failed so miserably………………
Have I not always taught you “No pain, YEAH!” Another marathon, REALLY?
Love you both and will be here for you always
My mom is awesome and hilarious and with Mother’s Day coming up I want to take this chance to thank her publicly for all of the support she’s given and continues to give me. One of the things I do in my training is ritual around the music that I listen to. I always listen to the same songs at the beginning, middle and end of each training session. In honor of my mom, I’m beginning each session for this marathon with “Mama Told Me Not To Come.” And because I enjoy messing with song lyrics, I’ve re-written the lyrics to be a bit more relevant to the marathon experience. (Of course any blog readers who are also singers and who feel inspired are very welcome to make a video or audio track and put it in the comments!) Either way, consider wishing me luck as I once again hit the streets with a marathon finish line looming!
Got some bodyglide on your hoo hoo?
Bib pinned to your T?
What’s all these crazy questions they’re askin’ me?
This is the earliest wake up that could ever be
Glad the sun’s not up ’cause I don’t wanna seeMama told me not to run
Mama told me not to run
“That ain’t the way to have fun, no”Drank way too much water, now I really have to pee
Twenty minute wait for a port-o-potty at mile three
And that aid station at mile ten, is all out of Gatorade
Less than halfway through, and it’s 90 in the shadeMama told me not to run
Mama told me not to run
“That ain’t the way to have fun, son”
“That ain’t the way to have fun, son”Elites already finished, they just run so frickin’ fast
I can’t believe there’s more hills, this is so kicking my ass
Finish line seems so far, I’m hungry, tired and sore
Once this race is over – I don’t wanna run no moreMama told me not to run
Mama told me not to run
She said, “That ain’t the way to have fun, son”
“That ain’t the way to have fun, no”
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