Greetings, sports fans! After a considerable time off from CL blogging, I am back with a brand new project in which I would like to involve each and every one of you. Wondering if I'm still bitter about Tim Tebow and his Florida Gators taking down my Oklahoma Sooners in the national title game? Absolutely. However, I have found a way to channel that aggression in a healthy and constructive way which brings me to the introductions I would like to make in today's post.
It is in my nature to be….let's say….overly active. If my hands and feet are not busy doing something worthwhile, then I can generally be found running around in circles, all the while convincing myself that I am providing a service of some kind. I think this affliction is referred to as "nervous energy," and I have it in spades. This condition is in no way diminished by my obsessive consumption of caffeinated beverages like the iced coffee I am consuming at this very moment, and I have no immediate plans to limit my intake. I've tried — it's an exercise in futility.
So when I learned about the upcoming Women's Running Magazine Women's Half-Marathon coming up this November in downtown St. Pete, I thought, "Okay…this is the perfect outlet for this influx of kinetic energy, and it's not as daunting as the idea of 26 miles in a full marathon. Sign me up!" The event takes place on November 22nd, so in mid-May I printed out a training plan and set my feet in motion.
For exactly one month, I happily executed my training plan alone — running during my lunch breaks and after work….self-motivated and relentless. But, after each grueling training session…with the heat and mosquitoes and the vomit-inducing smell of low tide and rotting mangroves…I was patting myself on the back alone. There was no one to exchange high fives with…no one to sweat the glorious sweat of victory or exchange battle cries with. Sadness and complacency threatened. Action had to be taken, or the mission would be lost.
This article appears in Jul 15-21, 2009.
