This is my newest hobby - running. Let's face it - it's a good way to burn off the ADD energy. That, and it's a whole lot cheaper than joining a gym, and it gets me out of the apartment.
It's a lot harder than I thought. Which sounds dumb, I realize. But I am in relatively active shape, and I take a dance class once a week, so I thought I was in better cardio condition than I am apparently. The first couple times I tried this running thing, however, I could not go more than five minutes without stopping, and let's face it, I was going slow in the first place. I am, slowly but surely (pardon the pun), getting better. I need to figure out the actual distance I run - that might be worth something. That might give me something to work for. Hmm.
This being said - it seems like running is the hobby of a LOT of people, Chicagoans especially. There are over 45,000 registered for the Chicago Marathon!?!?! That is CRAZY. That many people want to run 26 miles NONSTOP!? I could understand lifetime runners who have always held it as a hobby, but this seems like a bit much. Why is it that so many people want to do this to their bodies?! It can't possibly be just to get in shape, because there are much easier and less painful ways to do this. Maybe it's that running a marathon makes one really, truly feel like he or she has accomplished something. I do understand people don't often get to feel this way. Hey, my greatest accomplishment to date is this blog. Have any of my readers ran the marathon?
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6 comments:
Aha! That's so cool that you've started running! Running is *very* tough to get into - it hurts like hell for a while at first. But if you can keep yourself on a loyal regimen, your body will feel awesome overall down the road.
I began running my very last semester at U of I (in January 2004), because I wanted to lose weight. I changed my diet and really pushed myself, and by that summer I went from 210 lbs. to 140. I started out running 2 miles a day, and eventually was running 5 miles all the way around campus.
My body felt like it was on fire when I ran (especially at first), but on a daily basis my blood flow felt better, I felt like I had way more energy than I'd ever had (because I'd boosted my metabolism), and my body just felt like it functioned better overall. You're fairly active anyways, but you'd be surprised what adding a lot of cardio into your workout can do.
Alas, I didn't keep up the regimen when I went to grad school, and my diet slipped too, so I've gained back a little pudge. But now that I'm back in the working world and actually have free time, I'm rededicating myself. The DC area is wonderful for running (at least until it gets humid), and there are TONS of trails to run on here. As I recall, Chicago's lakefront (around the parks and museum campus) is also an awesome spot.
There are also lots of charity 5Ks and 10Ks to run here. I did my first 5K a week ago. In an ambitious (or stupid) moment last week, however, I also registered for the Marine Corps Marathon at the end of October. I've never run a marathon before, and I've never run even close to 26.2 miles straight.
But I signed up for two reasons: first,I'm doing it on behalf of the Washington Humane Society, so there's a cause involved; second, I kind of figure that this is my last good chance to get in awesome shape (which I've gotten close to, but never really reached). And, I just want to see if I can commit myself back into a regular, progressive regimen that can build up to such a run. It'll be daunting, but it'll be awesome if I can pull it off.
Let me know how your running goes!
Running 26.2 miles is NOT normal. I live by the motto, 'everything in moderation'. Would I sit on the couch eating 26 bags of Cheetos while I watched 26 hours of Jerry Springer?!?! No. Why? Because it's not normal and it's violating my "in moderation" policy. I will never run a marathon and I never want to. I believe running 26 miles in one "sitting" is the most unhealthy thing you could do to your body.
p.s. my comment might not be as long as Toms, but it's just as important.
Yay running!! I am of course, a lifelong runner and it is the only physical activity that I can do without getting bored and/or overly tired.
Oh, and people do marathons now mainly because they want to say they did it, and because they support charities. I call them leisure marathoners, because they're not doing it for the time or competition aspect of the race.
I find leisure marathoners kind of lame. When you finish a marathon in 2:22, I will be impressed. Otherwise, I think it's an unnecessary and potentially dangerous to one's health activity that I don't really think is a big deal at all. So you ran for 6 hours straight? Ummm I can think of better things to do with my time.
Anyway, I love running and I wish I lived closer to you, because then we could go running together!!
When you say running, do you mean running the microwave to make Hot Pockets? I know I get pretty winded cooking those babies up!!!
Thanks for all the thoughts/comments. I'm glad I got you all talking.
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