Life a little less crazy: Explanation of caption change

Big news folks, the caption for my blog has changed. If you are one of the 2-3 readers I have accumulated since 2007 when I started this blog (for example, my dad), its possible you noticed that the blog is no longer stated to be "sporadic documentation of my crazy city life." Yep, thats right, my life was crazy and now its not.

Ok fine, perhaps my life was never crazy, but either way, things have settled down. I'm almost 28, I am in a happy relationship, and more and more I'm finding that the "crazy" things I used to enjoy are just... not so appealing. This probably has to do with multiple factors, my relationship definitely one of them, but I think another important force is at play: I'm realizing more and more that when I give myself full permission to do whatever I want with my free time, I truly prefer to just stay in, often to read a book, write, or do some other activity. Crazy, I know.

I will not make fun of myself now by calling these activities what others may call them: boring, lame, anti-social, etc. I used to do that, used to care what people thought, and therefore labeled the activities similarly. Used to think I "should" go out every chance I got (and, you know, be crazy), used to feel guilty if I didn't, but the more I don't do this, the happier I seem to be. 

A few weekends ago, and right now, the boyfriend was off with the guys and I had the liberty to do "whatever I wanted" for a night. After some deliberation, I stayed in and watched a movie on Netflix. Now, I'm here doing laundry, writing, and occasionally listening to a new audiobook (my re-ignited hobby) while I fold clothes. Although I've always been this way, lately more and more I give myself permission to have these preferences and stop judging myself for being so "lame." And you know what? It feels pretty darn good. 

Anyways, back to the caption. I am writing in this blog again after over a year hiatus and as I looked at the old caption I realized that the word "crazy" probably is not so accurate, and finally I can admit that I'm happy about that. So, as I settle into another life stage, and attempt to keep a better documentation than I have been doing, I felt the need to make sure I was not engaging in false advertising. I'll go ahead and let you decide which adjective fits my life best, but I'm pretty sure crazy wont be it.

The Growth of Marathons: Just another number?

45,000     The number of people who register for the Chicago marathon
37,455      The number of finishers in 2012
16,767       The number of female finishers in 2012 (45%)

525,000 people finished marathons in the United States in 2011, an increase of 75% from the 299,000 people who finished marathons in 2000. In the US, the New York Marathon is still the biggest, with 46,536 finishers in 2011, and Chicago comes in 2nd. The next closest is the elite Boston marathon (23,879 finishers in 2011).

These stats seem huge to me, and represent how much marathon training is growing, however, compared to the general population stats (US population estimated at 311,800,000 in mid-2011), the percentage of marathon finishers still only represents less than 1% of the general population (0.17% to be exact).

So, assuming I finish this bad boy, I will be putting myself among an increasingly growing group of seemingly crazy individuals who pay $175 to put their bodies through the experience of covering 26.2 miles of concrete. At the same time, this is still an experience that less than 2 out of every 1000 people in our country will go through. 

These numbers reflect some of the opposing thoughts I have about the fact that I'm [finally] doing a marathon. I think my decision is a little different than many people who choose to do a marathon. That is, its my impression that more often, people to do a marathon earlier in their running career. I have actually been running consistently for over 5.5 years, finished 8 half marathons and many 5-10K races in this time, and have really been quite immersed in the running world. In fact, many people I told about the marathon thought I had already done one. I've watched many of my friends train for and complete marathons, including their first one, as well as qualifying for and running the elusive Boston marathon. I have heard countless times about "the wall" and many different training tips and woes. I have even run parts of marathons with several different friends (the hilly part, the last 5 miles, etc.), to help them keep pace and keep focused. All in all, I feel that more than many people taking on this new task, I have a pretty good idea what I'm getting myself into.

Because of this exposure to the world of marathoning, I can't help but feel like this decision is a little anti-climactic. But on the other hand, every single time I finished a half marathon, I swear I thought, among other things, "Doing that twice would really suck." I truly think this experience will be much different than the multiple half marathons I've done, especially since 13 miles became kind of... not a huge deal, particularly as I completed my 6th, 7th, and 8th ones. Additionally, unlike the halfs, I think this will be my only full marathon, unless perhaps it goes horribly wrong and I feel the need to do a "re-do" experience. I'd really like to be one of the "one and done" marathoners. I want the experience, without the continual time commitment and wear on my body.

My mindset going into this experience is something like this: I aint really that special, but at the same time this is special and influential decision for me. Perhaps that is a good way to view lots of our experiences in life. In any case, if you are reading this, I look forward to sharing my journey with you. I make no promises about what it might hold, but I hope that I learn something good and perhaps have some sort of important wisdom to impart when I'm done. Either way, welcome to my journey.

The Stars Have Finally Aligned

"Have you done a full marathon?" is one of the most common questions that naturally comes up among social running club circles. Therefore, after answering 'no' multiple times, I have lots of experiencing answering the follow up question of: "will you ever?"

My answer has always been similar: "Probably one day... It's just a huge time commitment, and I need people to train with. Also, I've watched so many of my friends get injured... I just don't think bodies are meant to do that. Plus I have enough excitement and challenges in my life right now, so I'll wait until things settle down a bit. Basically, I'm waiting for the stars to align."

Its funny how one little thing can ignite a motivation in you that you forgot was there. As 2013 rang in, I set my usual running goals, which were to get faster in shorter races (5K, 10K) and no marathons or even half marathons were in the plan whatsoever. Yes as I sat eating lunch with my friend Lisa and listened to her talk about signing up for the marathon (her first), something about it set off a twinge in the pit of my stomach. All of a sudden, I got butterflies and the thought went through my head, "I want to do that too." I tentatively suggested the possibility to Lisa who was excited and supportive. After a few days of contemplation (I had a steady job, this may be the last fall I live in Chicago, there are lots of options for training partners), it was clear that the stars had finally aligned, and the decision was made.

At 11:50am on Tues Feb 19th, I refreshed the Chicago Marathon website on a whim, and to my surprise the  'Click here to register for the Chicago marathon' appeared, 10 minutes early. My stomach knotted again, and I hurriedly put in my info. I hit 'Pay Now.'

Done. Let's do this. My first marathon preparation officially begins.

Race Day: Sunday, October 13th, 2013.