Five Things I'd Never Do

I think if you'd asked me a year ago to name five things I'd never do, I would have probably put "run a marathon" at the top of the list.

But, as they say, that was then…

This is now.

Last week I started training for a marathon. (No, not the New York Marathon, which is everyone's first question – as if any other marathon isn't still 26.2 miles!) I used to say you'd have to be crazy to run a marathon because of how hard it is on your body. I can think of five reasons right now NOT to run this marathon:

1) toenails will break and fall off
2) joints – important ones like hips and knees – may never recover
3) one word – chafing
4) dehydration (I've seen her dehydrate sir. It's pretty gross.)
5) sweat (Anyone who knows me knows that I sweat more than most people. For anyone who doesn't know me, I was the only person in my ballet class who had to keep a towel with me at the bar or I'd slip off. That's how much I sweat.)

There. That was easy. Five good reasons not to do it.

So why am I doing it? That's a hard question to answer.

At first it was a whim. And then I was intrigued. And then I was inspired.


The Whim
I picked up a brochure in a juice shop for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Team In Training, New York City Chapter. It gave me just enough information to get interested – great way to meet people and to get into shape, both of which I desperately needed to do. A year at a desk job had done a lot of damage to my social life – not to mention my ass.

The brochure left out some important information, like the fact that I would have to raise $3,600. But it did mention that it was for a good cause, and that was appealing to me -- though I can't pretend that was the reason I signed up. In fact, with what little information I could glean from the brochure, I thought maybe I could go through the training and then somehow weasel out of the actual race. Because I still believed that you have to be CRAZY to run a marathon.

Intrigue
I went to an informational meeting. I'm a bit on the shy side, so just showing up for the meeting was a challenge. It's usually the kind of thing I would only do if a friend was coming along. But I showed up. And I heard all about the program – the fundraising ($3,600! Yikes!) and where the money goes.

Inspiration
Where the money goes – that's what inspired me. Hearing stories from cancer survivors and seeing how recent research breakthroughs have helped so many people already – how they are getting closer and closer to a cure – that was truly inspiring.



So I showed up (which we all know is half the battle) a second time and signed up for the marathon. I will be running P.F. Chang's Rock 'n' Roll Arizona Marathon on January 15, 2006. And if you have to run a marathon, there are worse places to do it than Phoenix in January. Phoenix, after all, is not only beautiful – more importantly – it's FLAT. And for a first time marathoner, flat is very important.


Flat, like my abs will be in a few months.