Here we go!! I can honestly say that this is not something I ever thought I would be doing but I am super pumped about it!! My ultimate goal is to finish a full marathon this year and I want you, the members of IRUN nation to be there with me!! Actually I NEED you, to be there with me!! 🙂 Along the way I will share my highs and lows and have a ton of laughs while doing it!! So come back often to read about my adventures I encounter on my journey of becoming a Marathoner!!
Following is my submission to the Blod Idol contest. As you will see I was tricked into this! 🙂
November 24th,2008
It all began on this day. I have been trying for weeks if not months to ‘find’ more time to run. My wife had been saying for weeks, if not months that I should really be running more. She says because it is good for my heart. I think it was because my body was beginning to look more and more like a pear.
Regardless of why, I had been unable to get out and run more than twice a week at best. The excuses???? 2 Kids, A 3 ½ year old boy and a 5 month old girl. That plus the daily commute to work, ½ hour each way, the day to day grind of being a family and trying to keep a house running smoothly. Oh and the fact that our house was on the market at potentially the worse time in years!
So how did I decide that enough was enough and I could find the time to train for my 1st Marathon ? Well, like any other married man, my wife decided for me. Now don’t get me wrong this is something I had wanted to do for some time. I have run 5 half Marathons and always thought it would be a challenge to do a full. However, in my effort to make up yet more excuses my wife threw me a curve ball. We were in the midst of yet another busy Sunday when she mentioned that I should get out and run. My reply, “no time”. She then went on to say how important it was and that I should set a goal so I would stick with it. I said that I would like to do a marathon but it would mean she would need to give me the time to do all the necessary runs, during the week and especially the long runs on the weekends. Ha! I had her, how could she ever agree to that! She was alone with the kids upwards of 40 hours a week and I know she hated whenever I had something to do on the weekend. So as I casually started to leave the room I heard her say the words that will probably haunt me as I am out running in -20 and hitting KM 30+ at some point, “O.K.”
“What??” I said. I actually think I had to ask her what she said I was so shocked. How could she have turned my own trap around to trap me into training for a full marathon!! I am pretty sure I reiterated my points a few more times, listing how long I would have to be gone on some weekends, plus the fact that I would be so exhausted I wouldn’t be much help with the kids, but the answer still came back the same, “O.K. I think you should do it, it’s good for your heart”
So that’s that. As I contemplated putting on my running shoes to go out for my first of very many runs, I tried to figure out how this had happened, how did my plan on continuing my once a week hockey (followed by beer) fitness plan, be replaced with training for a 42.2km run. I am sure that I will figure it out completely as I trek through the ankle deep snow with my eyelids frozen shut one of these days, until that day I will chalk it up to the fact that my wife is very supportive and wants me to be healthy. That and the fact that she doesn’t like pears.