The following blog is brought to you by two best friends, separated by an ocean and a 14-hour plane ride -- both of whom are working towards the same goal. Separately and also together. Clearly, I am one of the friends and I can say that this whole marathon thing was my (possibly hair-brained) idea. The blog part was her idea. So, together we bring to you our currently-unnamed blog. Here, we’ll chronicle our trials, tribulations and everything in between as we run towards the Chicago Marathon in 2010 -- she from Okayama, Japan and me from Ames, Iowa.
To be quite honest, this is the last thing I ever thought that I’d do. Sure, I’m all up for trying new and scary things, but running a marathon was never on my life-long to-do list. I’ve always been rather jealous of runners -- for many reasons, the top being that they were actually able to do something that I was certain that I absolutely couldn’t. But, alas, change has come. I’m committed, and with the help of my trusty friend and co-blogger Claire, the advise of a former professor/badass marathoner and The Non-Runner’s Marathon Trainer by David Whitsett, Forrest Dolgener and Tanjala Kole -- I’m gonna do this thing.
Seeing as how I’m starting this thing with negative athletic ability (the last remotely athletic thing I did was tumbling at age 5), I’m beginning with Whitsett, et all’s Prelimary Training Program. Here’s the game plan for this week:
Moderate walking pace (17-20 minute/mile). 3 days a week. 30 minutes.
Today is Wednesday, I’m getting a bit of a late start (which can be chalked up to a combination of getting a new season of The West Wing on DVD, a glorious no-pants Tuesday, and a visit from Claire), but the following are my observations from tonight’s training:
- Inside the sports bra is an excellent storage place for the ipod.
- It’s really difficult not to steal my neighbor’s dogs while passing their yards.
- Vampire Weekend’s self-titled CD provides an excellent soundtrack to this kind of thing.
- I need to work up the courage to jog past other people on the street.
- Any suggestions on avoiding wedgies during this whole experience?
Welp, that’s all I’ve got for now. We’ll keep you updated as we do this thing!
Jordan
