In November of 2000, I ran the NYC Marathon for the first time. Behind my wedding and the births of my two children, it was the most memorable experience of my life. I couldn't wait to do it again. And I told myself that once I was done having babies, I would. Well...that time has come.
The ING NYC Marathon 2006 will be my third marathon. My first was the Suzuki Rock N' Roll Marathon in San Diego in June of 2000. It was a horrible experience. I think I trained well, but the day of the race was extraordinarily hot for San Diego, and like a complete idiot, I decided not to wear sunscreen. Who wants sweaty sunscreen to burn their eyes with the white hot intensity of 1,000 burning suns for four and a half hours? Well, needless to say, I got a horrible sunburn. Then I think I had some sort of electrolyte imbalance because by mile 16 I could barely move. It wasn't a marathon, it was a death march. Forget any goals I had set for pace. My new goal was survival. It's funny, because I remember passing groups of people running for various charities, and they were all smiling and cheering on everyone around them. I was so jealous (pissed is probably a better word) that I was in misery and they were having so much fun.When I finally did finish in 4:52:17, I was pretty beat up, both physically and mentally. I knew I was going to start training for NY in one month, and I didn't want to make the same mistakes in that marathon. No...I wasn't worried about the heat in NY in November, I just wanted to make sure that this time I had fun. Well...I did. In fact, I don't think I stopped smiling for 26.2 miles. Heck, I don’t think I stopped smiling for 26.2 days.
Now it's time for marathon number three, and I'm doing it for charity. It's called Team for Kids, and I’m going to help raise money to fund running based physical fitness programs for 15,000 kids who have no other access to phys ed. I wish I had started running when I was a kid. Then maybe I’d be halfway decent at the sport. I think Team for Kids is a fantastic organization, and in the age of X-box and Nintendo, I consider anything that inspires kids to get off the couch to be a very worthy cause.
Running is definitely an individual sport, and if you’re married and have two kids, running a marathon is one of the most selfish things you can do. Actually, I think running is a fantastic activity that not only helps you get fit, but improves your overall self esteem. However, my very supportive family will have to sacrifice a lot of mom time so that I can train for the race. And the time that they are around me, I’ll probably be a little sore and crabby. So, running this race for TFK is my way of giving something back. And, hopefully in the process, I will inspire my own kids to start running once they’re old enough.
