Turtles, stampeding through peanut butter...

So I’m following the Jeff Galloway runDisney Princess Half Marathon Training Program (http://www.rundisney.com/training/) and crossing off each day as I do it. (I mean it, the first thing I do after a run is go straight to the refrigerator and cross of that day’s training assignment with a big fat pink Sharpie.  Making that big pink “X’ is the best part of my running days.)  But I’m sore and still awfully slow and feeling sorry for myself.  

Okay, maybe I run slightly faster than a herd of turtles stampeding through peanut butter, but only slightly.  I’ve been running to Pandora’s Pop and Hip Hop Power Workout station and Sweet Lord they play an awful lot of Pitbull.  Also, there is the very delicate process in opening the apps on my phone required for my runs.  First Pandora, then Nike Run+ to track my mileage and time and then Two Timer, which is an app that allows you to build in walk breaks to your running time.  (Yes, I’m “fudging” a bit about how much I’m actually running, but more on that in a minute.)  When the third Pitbull song in a row comes on, I can’t just hit the “next” button because it messes up the Two Timer app and then I have to navigate over to that one to fix it.  (Imagine the Napoleon Dynamite “Gosh” right here. And yes, I am fully aware that this is a perfect example of a first world problem.)

Jeff Galloway is a proponent of the run/walk combination in completing long distance races.  You set a specific time to run, followed by a shorter time to walk.  You’ll switch back and forth between running and walking throughout your workout.  The purpose of this is to “rest” yourself before you completely deplete yourself.  Galloway has found that this actually results in faster overall times in marathons and half marathons for many runners.  I run for four minutes and walk for one and the Two Timer app keeps up with where I am and beeps when it is time to transition from one to the other. 

So the whole running thing has been really annoying, and I’d like to quit, but I really don’t want to quit, and I’ve put so much effort into this already it would be a shame to quit, but I am really annoyed by it, but I miss it when I don’t do it, but there’s way to much Pitbull.

Then I hear about Maickel Melamed.  He’s a thirty eight year old man from Caracas, Venezuela who has muscular dystrophy.  Last weekend he completed the Chicago marathon in 16 hours and 46 minutes.  He was the last finisher, and his message to people is “If you dream it, make it happen.”  And the amazing thing is that this is his THIRD marathon.  He has also finished races in Berlin and New York City.

Okay, I'm back on track now.