My Brilliant Idea

So, if you haven't heard, I'm doing the Cleveland Marathon on May 20. Exciting stuff. Scary, ridiculous, exciting stuff. What you should know about me. I am not a runner. I will not ever be a runner. I have plantar fasciitis, peroneal tendinitis and an overwhelming lack of desire which all prevent me from becoming a runner. In fact, I'm pretty sure that with a little sweet talking I could get my podiatrist to write me a life-time excuse to not be a runner. Something to look into...

So, why am I doing a marathon you ask? Well, it all started almost a year ago. Coach Angie (names will not be changed to protect the innocent) and I volunteered at the 2011 Cleveland Marathon for Girls on the Run. We were silly enough to think that there would be a ton of us coaches dragging ourselves out of bed at 4 AM to go volunteer in the cold and rain so our local GOTR organization could get a few bucks (and a free T-shirt. Do NOT ever underestimate the power of a free T-shirt). With the exception of our head GOTR person and all those close to her (I feel for you people, I really do. I work for a non-profit which basically means all those close to me get suckered into stuff like this all the time) we were the only coaches to volunteer. Newbie schmucks. It was written all over us, we get suckered into everything.

Standing in the cold, drizzling rain all morning getting mauled by speed demons for blackberry GU traumatized me. So when all these stragglers started coming through our water stand hours later and I learned there was a walking division for the marathon the skies opened up and the sun shown down on me. It was perfect! I could WALK this marathon next year! It would give me a reason for saying no to volunteering -- Yes, I have such a problem saying no to people, I'll go to crazy extremes to avoid it. I wouldn't have to see my life flash before my eyes when runners surrounded me ripping and tearing GU out of my hands (Let that be a lesson for all you speed demons out there, be nice to your GU Girl). More importantly, I could get one of those awesome 26.2 stickers for my car. Yes!

Even though I'm not a runner, I do subscribe to active.com, the subway series and all those other local racing organizations. Then I can see races that sound really cool, sign up for them and instantly be filled with regret. So, when I got the email for the Cleveland Marathon, I immediately remember the trauma from the GU, my inability to say no to volunteering and decided "I'm doing it". I post on Coach Angie's facebook wall letting her know what I'm thinking and that she's expected to participate. If you don't know Coach Angie then you should know that besides coaching little girls how to run, laughing at me when I get stuck in porta-johns and loving Cracker Barrel that she is brilliant. Because she promptly said NO. She, apparently, does not suffer from the "saying no" problem that I have. However, Bucket List Sam was stalking that day on FB, saw the post and was immediately intrigued because....well, doing a marathon is on her bucket list, of course! Sign her up! We then promptly coerced Monica and Jen into it as well. So, that's how our little foursome of insanity came to be.

Almost 2.5 months into training, almost 2.5 months late on starting the blog and 2.5 months away from race day here we are....