Look at me!

[noflyingfan]

I posted a photo in the album, although I don't think I put it in the right place. It's in "destination photos." I couldn't think of a better place.

In any case, it's not a great picture of me, but remember, I'd been running for 46 minutes and 24 seconds when it was taken.

[Passenger Mark]

Great photo!

How many races have you been in?

[noflyingfan]

Five. I did this thing they call a Progressive Marathon, which is four races of 4.05 miles each and one 10 mile race (which adds up to 26.2, or a marathon distance).

The 4.05 milers were actually kind of fun. The trail goes through the woods, so it's like a nature walk as well as a race. And the 10 miler goes through the woods and then through town. The pictures of me doing that one, though, are horrendous. I look like I've just walked through a car wash.

[spiffyone]

Erika,

I actually ran a marathon in 1999. Unfortunately, the official picture (like yours) has the time clock, huge and red, spelling out the time. Let's just say that no one should know the time. Let's just say that 4 hours would have been great, but didn't happen. And it's hard to pretend that I actually ran a race that was LONGER, and that was my time...I mean, they don't make times slower than that...

One of my friends who is a good runner (3:18 or something like that for the marathon) said to me afterwards that he has never in his life run for more than 4 1/2 hours, and he was completely in awe of me. Hmmmm. I suppose the Kenyans, who were back in their hotel rooms and showered and eating lunch by the time I finished, are jealous too.

:hamster

[noflyingfan]

You know what, Spiff, I met a guy doing the Progressive Marathon who had run the Chicago Marathon last year, and it had taken him seven hours. I hear there are a lot of people who take that long, who just do it to finish it and don't care what their time is.

I don't think I could ever run an actual marathon. I might do a half-marathon someday, but ten miles was really enough for me. Around mile 7 1/2, I started getting really tired and bored. I admire anyone who even finishes a real marathon.

But if it makes you feel better, you could tell people you're doing the "ultra marathon" thing where you're running like 50-100 mile races. Or you could say you had a slower time than you would have because you stopped to help runners who were struggling.

[spiffyone]

True....

My other insight about running (if you are a not-fast runner, like me) is that in very large races, there will be more people at the end...like I saw the Boston marathon once, and there were tons and tons of people still coming in at the 6 hour mark...but when I did the RI marathon, and came in at 5 hours (ugh!), there were only about 5 people behind me, and then the ones behind THEM were all injured.

Next time...Chicago!

spiff

[noflyingfan]

I hear Chicago's a good marathon to do, because it's so flat here, you don't have to worry so much about running up hills and stuff.

The guy who trained me for the Progressive thing is now trying to get me to sign on for a triathlon. Yeah, like that's gonna happen.