Five miles

It was inevitable that there would be days when I'd stay up too late and do too much the night before, and 6:00 am Sunday morning would come way too early. This was one of them. I managed to get up and to the park on time anyway, and despite the cold weather and the sleepiness got in a good run. Five miles down the Great Highway and back -- it's amazing to me that in just a few weeks I've already gotten to the point where five miles doesn't seem that far to run.

We run in pace groups named after famous marathoners. Ours is Christine Clark. When we all admitted that we'd never heard of her, we were given the "assignment" to make up all the silly and outrageous stories we could think of for who she might be (I will only pass along one: it was suggested that Christine Clark was Rush Limbaugh's drag name), and then go home and find out who she really is. So I've been surfing the net and discovered that Christine Clark is in fact a 38-year-old pathologist and mother of two from Anchorage, Alaska, who won the 2000 U.S. Olympic Trial with a personal record of 2:33:31, and came in 19th in the marathon at the Sydney Olympics. She's also won the 1995 Seattle Marathon and the 1995, '98, and '99 Anchorage Mayor's Midnight Sun Marathon. I am suitably impressed.

Four miles

After running last Sunday in Golden Gate Park, I decided that it was much more fun to run outside than on a treadmill at the gym, so for my midweek runs this week I went to the Panhandle off of Golden Gate Park. Ah, much better! I found that I could do two complete circuits of the Panhandle in about 40 minutes (and after sitting down with a ruler and a map of the City, I figured out that it was about three miles), so that's where I'll be doing my short runs from now on.

Today's group run was four miles, and it was our first with our pace group. We ran along the Great Highway, along the ocean, from Golden Gate Park to Taraval and back. I'm finding that I tend to really hit my stride after about two miles, and from then on I'm just a running fool. Who would have thought? I've barely ever run two miles before, so how was I to know it would get easier if I just kept going?

This is turning out to be a lot more fun than I thought it would be!

Three miles

I have running shoes. I have running socks. I have a fanny pack with water bottle, and I have little packets of sweet goop to eat while running. I may not be a runner, but I have the stuff!

The training program we are following was developed by marathoner Jeff Galloway, whose purpose is for us all to finish our marathon "upright, with smiles on our faces, and wanting to do it again." That sounds like a good goal to me! The training is accomplished by means of slow, easy runs, with lots of walk breaks, gradually increasing in length each week until the full 26.2 miles is reached. We are supposed to run/walk for thirty minutes twice a week during the week, then have a longer group run on the weekend.

This morning, we met at the west end of Golden Gate Park for our first group run. Today's run was a timed three-mile run for the purpose of dividing us up into pace groups which will run together throughout the training program. I'd done my midweek runs at the gym on the treadmill, managing two miles in thirty minutes, so I figured if I finished the three miles in forty-five minutes, I'd be doing well. To my own surprise, I finished in forty minutes! Was it being outdoors in the fresh air on a beautiful Sunday morning that did it? I don't know, but it was a lot of fun, and I'm really looking forward to running with my new pace group next Sunday, when we'll do four miles.

So I'm on my way! And my fundraising is off to a good start, too—I'd like to give a hearty thanks to those of you who've sponsored me so far. I'm beginning to feel that I might actually be able to do this!

I'm running a marathon!

I have never run a marathon before in my life. In fact, I don't run at all. I walk. I work out. Okay, sometimes I use the treadmill at the gym. And I have been known to occasionally run for the bus. (Broke my foot running for the bus one time, but we won't talk about that.) Yet here I am about to begin a six-month marathon training program, with the goal of running in the 29th annual Honolulu Marathon on Sunday, December 9, 2001. I'm doing it for a number of reasons: to get in shape, to challenge myself, to shake up my life—and to raise money for the San Francisco AIDS Foundation.

Frankly, I'm more worried about raising the money than I am about completing the training! I'm not an outgoing person, and the thought of hitting up my friends and family for money kind of gives me the hives. But hey, that's part of the challenge. I am committed to raise at least $3000 in donations by September 5 in order to participate in the training program and marathon. And, while we're on the subject, you can make a fully tax-deductible donation to sponsor me online using this secure Donation Form and specifying Runner Number 0575. Your donations go directly to the San Francisco AIDS Foundation to support AIDS services and prevention programs in the San Francisco Bay Area, and will also be used to fund a new initiative to support vaccine preparedness and HIV treatment access in the developing world.

Living in San Francisco, I have seen the ravages of AIDS first-hand for too many years. And the epidemic is far from over. New treatments have prolonged lives and restored health for many HIV+ people, but the drugs don't work for everyone, and they're not a cure. New infections are on the rise and government funding for AIDS prevention and treatment programs is still inadequate. I hope you will consider giving whatever you can to help the SF AIDS Foundation to continue to provide its vital services. Give early, give often!

Tomorrow I'm off to buy running shoes! If you're interested in my progress as I log over 500 miles in training over the next six months, I'll be adding weekly reports to this journal.

Thanks for reading!