“Run, Fat Ass!” – Silvia July 11, 2008

“Run, Fat Ass!” That’s the comment shouted to me by a guy riding on a back of a motorcycle. I was at around mile 2.5 of my 3 mile run. Frankly, I thought I WAS running. I guess I wasn’t. I was slogging…again…like up the stairs of my school. As for my ass. Well, thanks for pointing out the obvious motorcycle dude – do you think that’s why my ass is out here slogging in the 80 plus degree temperature? (He doesn’t know its for the cheeseburgers).

Today I ALMOST got lost again, but I stopped myself and turned around and did the 3 mile route. Whew! God forbid, I run extra again. At the beginning of the run, thoughts were streaming in my head. I have conversations with myself, or I pretend I am writing in the blog. I sound so brilliant in my head. Today more than ever I was hearing myself clearly. I began to get bored and annoyed with myself. I wanted to tell my brain to stop thinking. Then I realized I forgot to turn my Ipod on. I turned in on and in a few seconds my thoughts were mercifully pushed in the background of Dean Martin’s “Volare.”

As I was running (and I use that word loosely) I watched my dog briskly walking in front of me on his 26′ leash. He was walking; he didn’t even make a trot. Damn dog. And he’s so happy. Looking at squirrels, chasing them with a sudden burst of energy causing the leash to yank. Sniffing happily at every bush and tree, causing the leash to yank. Then briskly passing me in his quick gait. Why is he so damn excited to be out here? Perhaps if I had cheeseburgers to chase, and the scent of pizza and French fries coming from the trees I would bound from tree to tree in gleeful delight too. His boundless energy sickened me. It reminded me of one of our summer school students who likes to run. He’s 6. He says to me the other day, “I just run and run. I can go 15 miles easy. It’s like my legs don’t listen to me, they have a mind of their own. They just keep going.” Just call him Forrest Gump Jr. Well, my legs don’t have a mind of their own. They listen to my brain who is saying stop, stop, STOP DAMMIT. BUT, good old Dean drowns out the evil brain, and the legs keep going, slogging along.

Stairs – Silvia July 11, 2008

After school today I went up the stairs from the basement to the second floor to make copies and my legs felt like 50 pound lead weights. Aren’t I supposed to be able to “fly” up these stairs? What’s the point of all this if I have to resort to slogging up three measly flights of stairs? Of course, I forgot, the point is the cheeseburger – not how fit I am. (Let me rephrase that – not how I fit I will become).

I am going for my 3 mile run today. Rest assured I have committed the route to memory…no extra miles for me!

July 11th, 2008-Kirsten July 11, 2008

First off, thanks to everyone who has clicked on our blog! One of the biggest motivators in all of this is knowing we have people cheering us on to the end. Today is my day off so there is no hope of burning the bowl of ice cream I ate last night! With our training schedule, we have 4 days on and 3 days off. Silvia is a day behind me in her schedule, so I will get the “big” runs over with before her and warn, I mean, encourage her with hers! We hope with our blog that we can inspire other ordinary woman, like ourselves, that the image we have created in our minds about what the ideal woman is, or is capable of, is all in our own hands. Believe me, running a marathon seems impossible to me still, and I know I am one of many with that same thought. I am leaving for KY in a week, and I will be blogging as means of communication with Silvia. I know I couldn’t do this without her; just knowing she is suffering along side with me, every stride, every mile, every minute provides such comfort. We run a 5 miler on Sunday, the best part is the pizza after. You might have thought it would be the fact that this is the longest race I have done yet, but nope, its the pizza.

By the way, best way to map out new runs in any location is a website called mapmyrun.com