Is the Universe against me?

People didn't believe me when I compared myself to Job from the Bible in a previous blog.  Let's just say that when your washer has smoke pouring out of it, your car gets rear ended, and ants are attacking your kitchen, you start to wonder what you did to piss the Universe off.  I'm starting to wonder what else could go wrong!  I had plenty of time to ponder why the Universe hates me while I did my laundry at the laundromat this afternoon.  However, that's not what I found myself thinking about.  The truth is that when I find myself facing stressful events or worried about something, I always start to think of my parents.  Moments of stress or worry make me miss them terribly.  It's those times that I long to hear them tell me "Michael, it will all be ok".  On the long list of things that I miss about my parents, it may be their ability to comfort me that I miss the most.  There is no feeling quite like having your parents there to tell you that things will work out.  While thinking about them can cause me alot of pain, it also brings me back to reality.  They both endured more physical and emotional pain than I can imagine.  Throughout all of that, they thought more about their family then themselves.  As my father battled cancer, he worked hard to guarantee that his wife and children would be secure after he was gone.  When my mother faced the same battle, her thoughts went to making sure her children did not worry about her.  When I remind myself of these things, it snaps me back to the reality that complaining about a washer being broken or my car getting run into is silly in comparison.     

How does this impact my half-marathon training?  Well, it was hard to run while I had a concussion from the car accident.  And the feeling of the Universe being against me has not helped my motivation to train excessively hard.  As of today, I only have 176 days until the half-marathon.  I'm quickly running out of time!  So, I need to get myself out of this funk and get to work.  I'm certain that thinking about my parents and their ability to face challenges will help motivate me. 

A final update before I end this particularly depressing blog post.  I am able to run about 3 miles without feeling like I'm going to die.  I'm hoping that it will continue to get warmer over the next few weeks so that I can start to run outside.  If you live in the Lehigh Valley and see me jogging around Bethlehem, don't be afraid to honk and wave!     

How can I avoid looking like a dumbass when I run outside?

I am so happy that it is starting to feel like spring.  Baseball has started (go Phils!), you can see grass instead of snow, and the days are starting to get longer.  My back couldn't take much more shoveling of snow.  Unfortunately, the warmer weather means that I have no excuse for running inside on my treadmill.  Which leads me to my fear that I am going to look like an idiot when I'm running.  It is hard enough for me to avoid looking like a dumbass on a normal day! How am I going to avoid it as I try to run a few miles??  The way I see it, there are several factors involved.

1. Clothing - The right or wrong clothing can make or break my looking like an idiot.  I just recently got some Nike gear (thanks Jeannette!) that I think will help.  But, I've seen runners wearing those tight shirts and shorts that make their nipples/private parts pop out.  Anything that has any body part of mine protruding out, I desperately need to avoid!  Also included in this category are the people that run with no shirts.  I've had the unfortunately pleasure to see some pretty hairy guys running around.  Not a good look!

2.  Sweat - It is hard to look cool when you are running and sweat is pouring off of you.  Also, giant sweat marks on your shirt (that i will definitely have!) don't help in the cool department.

3. Looking tired/Getting sick/Having to stop -  I'm lumping these together and they are all strong possibilities for me.  When I see people running around town, they never look tired!  Most of them are trucking along with their earbud headphones looking pretty cool (As a side note, is there something wrong with my ears that I can not get those earbud headphones to stay in? I've seen the Itunes commercials with the people dancing around with the earbuds in...how the hell do they do that?!? If I take one step or breath the earbud pops out of my ear.  And then, when I get the one earbud back in, the one in the other ear pops out! Very frustrating.)  I will definitely look tired, may get sick, and may have to stop and walk at certain points in my run.  I don't think there is anyway around these issues, although, I do think that I can stop and pretend to be checking my pulse like some people do if I need a break. 

If anyone has any suggestions on these issues, let me know.  I may start my "outside" running in the next few weeks.  So, cross your fingers that I don't get too embarassed and give up on the half-marathon!

Am I having a son or daughter? Also, where have I been all this time?

Sports movies are pretty cliche and predictable.  Regardless, I love a good sports movie.  Almost all of them have a moment where the person or team faces a huge obstacle preventing them from their goal.  In Rocky III, Mick dies and Rocky doesn't know if he can fight anymore.  In The Natural, Roy Hobbs dates a blond woman...which everyone knows throws off a baseball player's swing and puts them him in a huge slump.  In Remember the Titans, white people hate black people and black people hate white people....and then a guy gets paralyzed!!  The examples could be endless.  Why do I bring this up? Because if a movie would be made about my attempt to run a half-marathon, we would be at the section where it would look like i wasn't going to make it.  This is the moment when it seems all hope is lost and the person or team is destined to fail.  Not so interestingly, the challenges that have got me to this point are relatively mild.  They include: my feet hurting due to the wrong running shoes, a severe sinus infection, a trip to Atlantic City, and pure laziness.  I'm sure when the movie of my adventure in running is made, the director can come up with a more inspiring reason for my downturn (perhaps my sinus infection can be embellished into pneumonia). 

So, I hadn't run for a month.  I knew that I was slacking.  I knew that I just needed to get back on the treadmill and start running.  I was waiting for the inspirational speech that is the best part of sports movies!  This is when a friend, family member, coach, etc. gives some inspirational speech to get the person motivated again.  I would like to say that someone inspired me to get on the treadmill and that it looked like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cz6oxIlmw_M

But that's not what happened.  The truth is that my wife asking me when I was going to start running again a few times made me feel guilty.  She did it perfectly.  We were just sitting on the couch (I may or may not have just eaten a cheese steak and been looking especially out of shape) and she randomly said "When are you going to start running again?"  So, it wasn't like Rocky and Adrian on the beach...but it was just what I needed.  I got on the treadmill yesterday and I'm happy to report that I ran with no pain.  I didn't run much.  But I'm going to try to build up to the 13.1 miles slowly this time.  I can hear Eye of the Tiger playing in the background already!!

So, I made you read through this entire post to learn that I am going to be having a baby girl!  The doctor already says that she looks like a genius!  The tricky part is coming up with a name...so, if you have any suggestions comment, email, call, or text me.  I need ideas!!

What are my two big announcements??

I have two big announcements.  The first is that I can now announce where and when I will be running my half-marathon (assuming my training goes as planned).  The marathon is run by the Lehigh Valley Health Network.  It seems that the marathon supports an organization called Via.  Here is a brief description of Via from their website "Via of the Lehigh Valley is a non-profit human service agency that provides services for children and adults with disabilities like autism, cerebral palsy, Down syndrome."  Sounds like a good cause!  The event takes place on September 11, 2011.  Here is a link to the marathon's website.  http://www.vianet.org/events/marathon/index.shtml

Based on the information on the website I have a few quick thoughts.

-The full marathon starts at Lehigh Valley Hospital in Salisbury Township and ends in Easton, two towns over.  I find it amusing that I started this journey as a way to avoid health concerns and avoid going to the doctor and the marathon involves running away from a hospital!

-The website says that they expect people to keep up with a 14-minute mile pace, as they close the course down.  I hope that I can keep up with that pace!  I wonder what they do if someone isn't able to run that fast.  Do they start yelling people for running too slow?

-Are marathons usually one straight run from one place to another?  It seems that it would be much easier if it was a big circle that took you back to your car.  Am I going to have to get on a shuttle bus with a bunch of smelly runners?

-It takes place on a Sunday.  Will I need to take that Monday off?

So, I said that I had TWO announcements.  What's the other? I am proud to announce that my wife is pregnant!  Obviously, this provides me with further motivation to get healthy, not return to smoking, and keep training for the half-marathon!  If all goes according to schedule, our child will be about a month old at the time of my run!  I'm certain that there will be plenty of interesting blogs to come as I get closer to fatherhood!