Where’s the peanut butter?!

Howard asked why I want to run a marathon which is a good question. Why would anyone want to do this? Your body can supposedly only hold about enough energy to carry you 20 miles or so before you hit “the wall” (”bonking” in cycling) and start burning fat to generate energy - it really doesn’t seem like something humans were designed for…

But there are a couple things I’ll get out of it. First, I love running. Maybe it comes from my grandfather on my mom’s side of the family but since I started running in high school recreationally it has definitely been what I consider the most satisfying form of exercise. Anyone can do it, all you really need are shoes, and it’s a fantastic way to get to know an area. There will always be music I listen to that takes me to runs in the frigid Minnesota winter near my high school, around the extended campus at UMass for the year I was there, around London the month I spent with my sister in college, around Cleveland and University Heights, and around Microsoft and Capitol Hill in Seattle.

I also love tests of endurance. After not rollerblading for a couple years, I finally got a pair again in Seattle a while ago and went out on the Burke-Gillman trail. I wasn’t in particularly good shape at the time and (foolishly) thought “oh, I’ll go around the lake.” This turned out to be a much further trip than I expected and after going a couple hours I decided to turn around and completely exhausted myself. I wasn’t properly hydrated, fed, or (still) in shape for the trip but the exhaustion afterward felt terrific. Similarly, a year ago some friends organized a hike on Mount Rainier up to Camp Muir, the base camp that most climbers summit Rainier from. I wasn’t really in shape for that, either, and it set the bar for most physically demanding exercise I’d ever done - and it was great! I’m doing that trip again this Saturday and really looking forward to it.

Finally, it’s an accomplishment I want to make in my life. A couple weeks ago I decided to stop not getting around to things I want to do in life and to try to just do more things and not worry about failure. “What if I don’t make my target time in the marathon?” “What if I can’t finish?” “How will I find the time to train properly?” “Fuck it,” I decided, “it’s time to stop talking about it and do it.” This was also what helped encourage me to quit my job even though I don’t have another one lined up immediately, to sink a couple thousand dollars into a scooter, and will probably get me to Singapore to visit a one of my best friends who I don’t get to see often enough and who wants to know why I’m running a marathon.

So there are a couple reasons, and I’m really glad about all of them.

UPDATE 2007.05.22 “The lake”

I should have clarified that when I mentioned rollerblading around
“the lake” I meant Lake Washington, not Green Lake (a difference of
about 35 miles).