This is not a story about coffee.
This is totally a story about coffee.
It is also not a story about running, blacking out for the second half of 28, or forgetting to eat for a month.
It was 2 months.
Shut up, Kiwi.
I help!
Kiwi is my phone. He "helps." And for purposes of clarification; he has full authority over the italics button in this undertaking.
Woo hoo!!! ITALICS!!!!
Yes, well.
When I first started writing this down, it was September 30th, 2012. My birthday is October 20th. I'll be 29. Yes, for the first time. Last month, August; I did a triathlon and a half marathon. The tri was a first, the half was not.
So from that I dreamed up this idea.
What if I ran a half or a full marathon every month for a year? I already have my birthday half lined up, along with a November marathon in my hometown of Savannah, Georgia. I know of races for January through March without leaving a 100 mile radius of home base. Totally possible. And my job as a personal trainer allows for lots of time for training.
Ha. You're bad at that.
Kiwi's right. For the August half, I'd run about 10 miles in the previous month. Consistent training has not been my strong point. But come on! Fitness is my job, right? A half or a full every month for a year isn't impossible. That's somewhere between 157 and 314 miles. Some runners cover that in a month. And this'll give me something to write about.
Is this life influencing art or art influencing life?
For something who goes by the nickname "Fone," that was quite insightful, Kiwi.
Yes. I am very sightful. ...what's that mean?
.....so let's back up.
August 11th.
The alarm goes off at 4:30 am and I think I'm going to throw up. What I don't know then is that within a month 4:30 will be considered sleeping in and I will be living with that vomity feeling every day for the next year. Today is tri-day. Swim-bike-run-collapse. In that order. My last bike ride (my only bike ride in the past 2 years) was an early morning ride across town to my parents' house; 6 months ago. Swim? Not since college (over 4 years for those of you counting). But today is Saturday and on Thursday I signed up for this thing because why not? I've done all three of these sports. Just not in a row.
So by 5am, I've loaded my bike and am headed to Hilton Head Island for the Beach Bum Triathlon. This is a little event, but that doesn't lessen the vomity feeling. I arrive and sign in. Now, along with bikes that cost more than my car, a lot of these competitors are in full tri-gear and I spot at least 2 Iron Man wet suits. I'm in a cotton sports bra, cotton bike shorts, and my college swim goggles. I note the differences, but am much more concerned with not dying before the finish line.
Making my way to the transition area (an area specifically set aside to swap from swim to bike to run along with gear, clothes, etc); I meet Gary, also doing his first tri. But he runs ultras (marathons of more than 26.2 miles). Great. My first and only marathon took 6 hours. This guy warms up with 30 mile runs. So I decide to focus on the swim.
The swim portion is first and the shortest distance we will cover today. A quarter mile in open ocean. Please let me clarify. It's not the open ocean, waves, inability to see the bottom, touch the bottom, or sharks (technically called "seaweed" but YOU go swim out too deep and tell me it wasn't Jaws!) that are difficult for most people. It's the 200 other competitors trying to do the exact same thing in the exact same place as you. Hitting, kicking, & splashing others is all happening here. None of it on purpose, it's just that no one is going to swim further out than they absolutely need to. I swallow the majority of the ocean, which is how I manage to not drown, and get to the point where everyone begins to touch bottom and run for shore. Yeah! Swim is over, I'm not dead, I can recover on my bike.
I think.
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