The short version: I trained for marathons, then Ironmans. I wrote about it, so I wouldn’t have to email the same damn thing to everyone who asked (“how are you feeling?”). This was 2003 – before blogs, people. I had an HTML page that I updated manually. Life was good. In 2008, I went to grad school, got busy, got injured, and stopped writing. Now I am about to have surgery, and want to write again. Let’s see what happens.
The long version: Once upon a time, I was an Athlete. With a capital A. I ran marathons (13!), and I ran them relatively quickly (3:37:change!). Because I was living in San Francisco, I got a serious case of the Crazies, and I signed up to do a freaking Ironman. You know, swim 2.4 miles, bike 112more, and then run 26.2, all on the same day. In the name of charity. Oh Ironteam, creation of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, you rocked my world. I raised almost $40,000. I did one. Then I qualified for Boston while training for a second one. Life was grand. You could bounce quarters off my ass.
And Then.
I decided I needed to go to grad school. That shit was stupid because 1) I was 5-10 years older than most of my classmates, 2) I was about 50 years dumber than many of my classmates, 3) This endeavor required leaving the job (Go Cardinal) and city that I loved, and moving 3,000 miles across the country back to the East Coast. Suddenly, running 30 minutes three times a week made me an “athlete.” W.T.F. Oh, and most important, school cost like $65k a year that I didn’t have. And the economy melted down during the first month of school, meaning getting my MBA might be a Massively Bad Accident.
Grad school did have its payoffs (the massive debt load is not one of them), like adopting my dog, Turkey. She is the best thing that ever happened to me. I also made some swell friends. I love them. And though I may be a begrudging resident of the East Coast, I love being closer to my family. I can hop in the car and be there in just over two hours. I can also hop in the car and leave there just as quickly.
Now, I’m muddling through. A bad injury in Fall 2009 had me off of running for almost 9 months. I recovered, trained smartly, ran Cherry Blossom 2011 and was training for Marine Corps Marathon 2011. I was going to make my Comeback. I was going to requalify for Beantown and take it down a notch – 3:35 would be mine. And then my injury recurred. I spent the fall in a boot, then wearing my running shoes everywhere, visiting doctors and making the most of my insurance coverage
Next stop, surgery. In April it will have been four years since my last marathon. I seem to be eternally stuck on #13. I am grateful to have a job, health insurance, and the means to even have surgery.
Let’s see what happens.
