Being a resident of the beautiful city of Boston (well, just outside of it), there is one event a year that I refuse to miss. No, it is not the St. Patrick's Day parade...as much as I (admittedly) love drunk Irish guys, getting through the crowd in the cold, usually rainy March weather, I'd rather just avoid it altogether. It's the Boston Marathon! As a 9-year-old, I remember going with my childhood friend's family, as her father was a pretty serious runner. Even then, watching 20,000 runners sprint through the streets of Newton was exhilarating to me. At that age, I liked the outdoors for the nature aspects of it, but I was far from an athletic kid. As a grad student/working 2 jobs, I rarely have the time to even sleep, so fitness has been far from the regiment. But, 2 days ago, I started training for the 5k that I am determined to complete on June 6....2 days after my Master's graduation ceremony.
So, I have less than 7 weeks to comfortably run 3.1 miles, and I am (embarrassingly) winded by running even a mile. I suppose the social smoking/weekend drinking/lack of sleep/recovering from a bad cold doesn't help the situation. I am determined to increase the workout schedule by 2 minutes each day. Then, I can (hopefully) comfortably run 30 minutes in 3-4 weeks, and spend the last 2-3 weeks working on speed. As my first 5k, my goal is completion rather than speed. The next 5k will be for speed, and then hopefully, in June 2011, I will be able to run somewhere between a 10k and a half marathon! I was really inspired by runners from all nations, ages, and even body shapes, persevering to finish the 26.2 mile race...and the nerd in me wishes that I had been able to run it this year (for a charity, of course, since there's no way I could qualify for it!), since I am just about 26.2 years old! Realistically, running for a charity in about 3 years seems feasible...and that will be one of the 30 items off of my list!
In other news, I cannot believe that I have less than 6 weeks left of Master's classes! Of course, I will still have a pending thesis (and a 40 hour job through the summer), so I will not really be able to start a "career job" until September at the earliest. Since I am already really aware of my mortality, I am also aware of the fact that I may really not have "time to myself" for much longer. Given my history as a serial monogamist, this is true, but really, who knows. However, the thought process has led me to really want to plan a road trip for the end of August/early September. It will be anywhere from 10 to 14 days, depending on how many drivers we have. Rebecca and Liena are definitely in, but since Rebecca just started a job, she's not sure about her time off. And Liena's been nominated for the Peace Corps, but the timing is not yet set in stone. Olga has also been invited...so we could even have 4 drivers! 4 girls (young women, technically), an open road, a lot of food and coffee, and great sights. The weather seems to cooperate well in August/September too, so we could even sleep outside if there isn't someone to stay with...yay! Although it seems highly unlikely that Olga would want to do that (sorry, Olga!). We shall see...I really hope this trip really happens!
Perhaps all this locus of control on running/schoolwork/planning a trip/applying for jobs will make me feel less compelled to try to control the unpredictable aspects of life...which pertains to other people. Much easier to control things that have a definite input and output...it's too much of a waste of energy (at this point anyway) to invest time/effort in people. I don't mean to sound pessimistic, but I know I've already wasted too much energy that I could have spent on something far more productive and with far greater payoff. Typical thing for me to have done though...and it is important to know thyself!
Now time to watch Jeopardy, and exercise the brain, as the body has been sufficiently exhausted. Thank God for DVR!
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