Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Getting the Ball Rolling

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:


  1. Inside the sports bra is an excellent storage place for the ipod.
  2. It’s really difficult not to steal my neighbor’s dogs while passing their yards.
  3. Vampire Weekend’s self-titled CD provides an excellent soundtrack to this kind of thing.
  4. I need to work up the courage to jog past other people on the street.
  5. 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