August 3, 2008

Day before the marathon

How I know I’m dating a guy who’s totally amazing and understanding of my crazy running: we went out to dinner, and he bragged to his friends that I’m “touring the country doing marathons in each of the 50 states.” I tried to make it clear that I was hardly “touring” and that I was not some elite athlete or something, but they were still impressed. Later, when calling to order takeout, he specified that he wanted them to make a plain baked potato so that I’d have enough carbs. He was happy to do a low-key movie night instead of going out, because he knew I needed to rest up, and when I started falling asleep around 9:00 (only about 20 min into the movie), he didn’t mind and said it was for the best. Totally awesome.

I got up at 6:30 AM to catch my flight, which was pretty uneventful. When I went to catch a shuttle from the airport to my hotel, the guy was going to charge me the 12 and under rate because that’s how old he thought I was! I know I’ve posted race pics and whatnot up here, but I’m really hoping I meet Aron/Lam/Julianne/Audrey/Scarinzic/someone tomorrow who can come and post that I do not, in fact, look like a nine year old in real life.

The expo was really crowded, and I gorged myself on free samples – oops. The best part of the expo, however, was Dean Karnazes‘ talk. I had read Ultramarathon Man last year, before I was really into distance running, and loved it then, so at the end of his talk when he was selling/autographing books, I decided to buy one. Upon meeting him, I told him that I had done my first marathon in May and this was now my fourth. His reply? “You’re doing your first four marathons in two months? You are crazy… I love it!” It felt like the ultimate compliment to have someone who does probably the craziest running things (his latest was a 260 mile relay race… that he did by himself instead of with a team, and still beat some of the other teams) tell me that I was similarly crazy 🙂


I also told Dean that I wanted to run the fifty states before my 25th birthday, and he goes, “wow, you’d be the youngest ever to do that, huh?” I had no idea, but I got home and looked it up… sure enough, the record for youngest female to run marathons in all fifty states is held by Liesl Fox at 28 years and 10 months. That gives me more than five years… I can totally beat that! Which then got me thinking… in high school and before that, I was the least athletic person ever. My friends used to joke about how not-a-jock I was. I couldn’t run (was always the slowest in our class for the mile run), hated sports (because I totally sucked at all of them), and was your quintessential nerdy music kid. And now I’m attempting to set a world record in running? That’s incredible.

Note: I realize how far away I am from doing this. San Francisco tomorrow is only state #3, so I clearly have a long way to go. But as Walt Disney always said, “if you dream it, you can do it.”

On that note, I’m off to dreamland. Race day tomorrow!

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17 thoughts on “Day before the marathon”

  1. Hi Laura – Yes, I’m definitely doing the 5K tomorrow, just registered today. What wave are you starting in? I’ll try to spot you at the finish. Did you decide on the maniac or the danskin shirt?

    BTW – when I saw Dean at the expo, I just knew there would be a picture of the two of you on your blog. 🙂 How fun for you!

    GOOD LUCK!

  2. laura, you’ll get #3 and the other 48 (don’t forget little ole’ dc) in no time at all!! what a great goal! what a great shot of you and dean!! can’t wait to hear how the race went!!

  3. Cool !!! Dean K is my source of inspiration. When I think of doing long run, I simply say to myself “If Dean can do it, so can I.”
    You can do it in all 50 states! Don’t forget to sign up for New Jersey Marathon. (May 2009) Good Luck in SF Marathon.

  4. Most excellent! That’s a good picture of you. AND if you do the 50 states thing, Chicago would be a great marathon to do for Illinois 😉

  5. sorry to have missed you! hope you had a killer race. did you get to enjoy some of our perfect weather yesterday afternoon? today was a bit foggy and on the cool side, but probably awesome for marathon racing. hope to catch you on your next west coast trip! can’t wait to hear a report from your race!

  6. That is so awesome!! You give me hope to someday be able to run, hehe. And guess what? I just signed up for my first race, a 5k, today!! Its in November. Its no marathon, but its a HUGE step for me!

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