As many of you know, I started running a little over a year ago. It started as a suggestion, quickly progressed to a hobby, and has since blossomed into a passion. For the past couple months I have increased the amount of days I runs as well as the distance of each run. I can clearly remember struggling to complete my first 3-mile run in early 2010. Last week I set out on my longest run yet and completed 14.4 miles in just over two hours. To say I have simply improved at a new hobby would be to trivialize its impact on my life.
Vanity is not a trait I have ever been accused of possessing. More often than not I tend to downplay my character, my abilities and my looks. Actually that’s a bit of an understatement — my humility is often defined by others as self-loathing. But I attribute a lot of my recent mental and physical transformations to the exercise I’m getting. Aside from a week of sickness that followed too much boozing and not enough sleep I’ve never felt healthier. Spend enough sunny LA mornings outside running and people start to compliment your skin tone and/or radiance. Hell, I’ve even caught myself sizing myself up in the mirror lately. I mean…for as lazy as I think I am…I’ve got abs now. What the fuck, right? Don’t get me wrong, I’m not “cut” or anything, but the difference between even six months ago and today is startling. These little developments spur psychological changes, too. Suddenly I notice my confidence is improving. I’ve eschewed self-loathing for — even typing this word seems weird — self-satisfaction. Pride. Ego. Ego? Nah, I wouldn’t go that far.
And maybe I’m quick to give all the credit to running, but that’s what got the ball rolling. Like I said, it was a simple suggestion and everything just snowballed after that. I don’t think I need to expound upon it, but the personal issues I had to deal with a few months ago obviously sped up the process. Even prior to that I was seeing little improvements. There was always a notion that I would use my new hobby to attain a specific goal, but I was never clear on what that would be until more recently.
On Tuesday morning (just after midnight Monday night) I paid my registration fee and entered myself in the Las Vegas Marathon, which will be held December 4th of this year. My official training schedule begins on August 1st, so until then I’ll be taking things relatively easy. I don’t want to over-exert myself before the program even begins. I see this process as being as strange as it is exciting. There will have to be concessions made — especially socially — during that 16 week period. A new diet plan. A new training plan. It could very well mean no alcohol consumption for four months. I’ve never attempted anything like this before, so I anticipate working through a lot of the issues that arise in this space. I’m sorry if that sounds boring for some of you but I don’t really have any other outlet I can use for self-reflection. I’ll try to make it fun or at least approach it with the same irreverent wit as I do everything else in my life.
I’m running a marathon? Fucking weird, right?
MetroPak – Run Run Run
Hypnotics – I’m Running
