Welcome to my training blog!

Greetings!

Recently my aunt Bee and I ran a half-Marathon in Traverse City, and with persistence, she has convinced me to run the Grand Rapids Marathon on October 18. I'm pretty sure she secretly hates me, and this is her way of torturing me. A little bit about her, her nickname is Captain Furious and recently she ran down the median of I-94 to rescue a kitten. And she's persistent.

This training blog will contain updates on my running progress, as well as general grousing and commentary on the insanity of running, runners, spandex, GU, and other aspects. The reasons for running the marathon will come in later postings. For now, I'm going to provide some PSAs on this blog.

First, I do not expect ANYONE but me to actually read this because I'm sure most people file my running under "who gives a shit". However, I would like to document what I'm doing. Assuming that I do not die in the process of training and/or running the race, afterward it might occur to me to do it again. It'll be like childbirth or watching "A Clockwork Orange". I'll forget the torment and torture, and want to do it again. So this blog is a way to prevent that. Or at least allow me to better assess just how hard it was to train, so I can make an informed decision.

Second, I have a tendency to ramble and rant about my goings on, like a sort of verbal incontinence. When I ramble to others, I bore them and I forget what I've told whom. This way I can get my thoughts out of my system, and if you're interested, you can read them here. However, this will most likely be rambling and insane. Consider yourself warned.

Thirdly, this blog gives the readers the opportunity to bet on whether I'll finish a marathon or whether I'll actually update a blog more than 3 times. Those of you who are familiar with my past blogging experiences will be betting on the running. This despite the fact that the greatest pain I'll encounter while blogging is my computer being really hot and having somewhat sharp edges.

Fourth, while this blog will contain its share of complaining, it will most likely have moments of cheesiness. What can I say? I'm a graduate of the Sarma School of Sentimentality and Cheese, and I know that is not everyone's style. However, with the proper application such cheesiness can induce tears in even the most business-minded individual. You know who you are. (Abbey). So when those occassional bouts of cheerfulness come, keep faith, and I'm sure they will go away quickly.

Finally, the name behind this blog. A full marathon is 26.2 miles, hence that part of the title. However, the phrase "this is idiotic" has a special meaning to me. While billions of people have uttered those words before, they always remind me of a trip to Cedar Point, which is one of my favorite places.

In May 2006, Ben Maki, Karen, Mike, and I traveled to this fabulous destination on what was an overcast and somewhat cold day. After a number of rides, we all walked up to one ride's entrance, and to be honest, we weren't really sure what it was we were walking up to.

It turned out to be one of those flume rides where you go up for eternity, turn 180 degrees, and then plummet down. Waiting for you at the bottom is a sheet of water that will drench you to the skin. Now. For those of you who do not know Michael Mandarino (and at this point, I knew him very little), he hates when his clothes are wet. As a child, he would change his shirt several times during water balloon fights. True story; we have eye-witnesses to back this up. So this ride was not for him. Karen suggested we leave, but Mike vetoed that plan. As we took the 15 minute journey to the top, suddenly, Mike busts out "This is idiotic!" Again, Karen reminded him that we could have left, but he said that we'd already committed to the ride by walking up to the entrance, and there was no "going back". Incidentally, he ended up being soaked, removing his t-shirt, and wearing only his zip-up for most of the day.

Long story aside, I enjoy the idea that just because something is idiotic doesn't mean that you shouldn't see it through. That the other reason for this blog. My intentions are declared, and while I'm sure I will say this is idiotic (as well as other things) many times in the next few months, I'm going to stick with it.