Why?

People keep asking me why I am doing the marathon. That is a good question. I have a lot of answers depending on the conversation, the time of day, my mood and various other factors. I think the reason changes for me from moment to moment. Some of the reasons are that I have always wanted to. I have found marathoners inspiring. I remember a gym teacher doing it which seemed logical to me, he was after all in phys ed. But, then I remember people like my cousin Eleanor doing it with her husband and, if memory serves me right, her in-laws. She was always fit and athletic, but certainly not a marathon runner. In fact, I had never even thought of her as a runner before. I was incredibly impressed. Then, when I lived on the UES, I was watching and an old college pal, Stephanie Ortiz, went past me. She was always taking aerobics and stuff in college, but I had never thought of her as a runner either. Then my brother's girl friend did it, then my brother, then others. There was the CFO at my job, Paul Bogustsky, who was as busy as they come, yet I would run into him around lunch time and he would be just returning from a run. He would make comments like, "Oh it was a short one today, only 8 miles." I believe he had done 8 marathons or so. He and his wife would do them. I can remember being impressed by the training, but what REALLY impressed me was seeing him the Monday after. He was walking around the office as though he had had a typical weekend. I was in awe. Still am, Paul, if you ever see this. So what does all this mean? I wanted to be like them. I wanted to be someone who had the courage, strength, discipline and insanity to take on a goal like the marathon and fulfill on it.

Why else? I thought I might meet some interesting people. Plain and simple. And, I have. It started in training for the half.

Anne
I did not meet Anne because I was training, I met Anne because she and I were both at one of my brother's squash matches, and as he introduced us he said, "You 2 have to meet because you were both IMing me at the same time last week that you were tracking your walks on mapmyrun.com." Anne and I chatted and learned we sometimes walked in the park at the same time. I ended up seeing her in the park a couple of times...the most critical was at about mile 8 of the More half. She ended up joining Mercer and me and going with us until the end. I figure anyone who can put up with Mercer's and my bantering and my unbelievable crankiness around mile 11 is a keeper. Anne is mildly (I hope more than that) toying with the idea of doing the Disney half with me.

KC
KC, who I walked with yesterday, is amazing. KC has had quite a few health issues over the past few years, but she has dedicated herself to walking. She did the NYC marathon last year in 7.5 hours (which is about 1.5 hours faster than I plan to). She also has done a whole slew of halves and trains in all different ways. She does Yoga, strength training, deep water running and who knows what else. In addition to being a great friend (which is so obvious because at each race, she has pals do it with her, watch her, etc), nice and funny, she is a total inspiration. She has lost over 100 pounds since she started all this. She is what I call good folk.

Cindy
Next is Cindy. Cindy lives in Wisconsin. Yes, I am in NYC. Cindy responded to a post I made looking for Brooklyn Walkers. She said she gets into NY from time to time and walked the NY marathon in 6.5 hours last year. Well, she came to NY for a week long vacation and we met up for a Central Park walk. Cindy is clearly a New Yorker, even though she has lived in WI for about 25+ years. Cindy educated me about Milaukee and was a delight to walk with.

Why now? Another question I am asked a lot. Well, I always said I wanted to do it before I was 40. I entered the lottery, as you may know the NYC marathon is so popular that you must enter a lottery. I didn't get in. I was relieved for a split second. Then, I was totally upset. I wasn't sure what to do. So, as I often do when at a cross road, I spoke to Will, my brother. He said, "Well, if you wait until next year, you will be doing it when you ARE 40." That was it, I knew I was selling out. I had always said before I was 40. So, I went and found some charities that would get you in. There were only a handful that I was into. I ended up with Team For Kids and the rest is history.

Why else? I think it is a really good release mentally. I like the high I get from it. I am sure it is benefiting my health too, but I must admit that is really a happy consequence. It is not why I started it nor why I do it. Everyone else seems to be into it, so let me answer that question, that if you haven't asked, I am sure you wanted to:
How much weight have you lost? Well, uh, let me see, uh none. At least as of last week. I was, believe it or not, up about 5 pounds. I do not know how or why. I do not understand it, but since I didn't go into it for that, I do not dwell on it. I will not lie that when I got on the scale today for the first time in a week or so and it was down 9 pounds (the 5 I had gained + 4), I was happy. But, I was cautiously optimistic because I had to have sweat out at least 10 pounds yesterday, lol. So, I will see what it says over the next several days. I have started to watch what I am eating from a training perspective. I want to recover well (although I ate all wrong for that yesterday) and eat the right foods to fuel me before during and after my workouts. So, that may cause me to lose. I think my speed would increase if I were a little lighter too, but suffice it to say, this is not my focus.

Lastly, I will admit that even though I haven't done the marathon I am already planning the other events. My next year looks something like this:
11/4/07: NYC Marathon
1/12/08: Disney Half-Marathon
3/23/08 ?: The More Marathon/Half - Marathon ( I am not sure they will let me do the full since I won't be quite 40 yet, I miss it by a couple of months)
5/3/08: The LI half or Full (depending on the More)

I will do the NYC and Disney for charities. The NYC, in all honesty, because I had to, and Disney because raising money for LLS (The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society) is a no brainer since Barbara (my friend and boss) has recently been diagnosed with Leukemia.