I choose not to run.
Aug. 22nd, 2006 01:03 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
penfieldMy girlfriend is running a marathon to raise money for AIDS research, and she needs your financial support.
I ask you to click here and make a donation.
In November, J. will travel to Florence, Italy to participate in the Firenze Marathon. Don't ask me why. I don't get it. The human body obviously was not designed to run 26.2 miles in a row. Consider: it serves no evolutionary purpose; natural dangers like hurricanes and tidal waves travel much farther much faster, and anything smaller and slower is going to give up chasing you after five or ten miles.
A marathon seems like an awful lot of stress to put on a body without a really good reason. So why do people consider this feat to be so much nobler than whacking their knees with a hammer for four hours? It should be noted that the whole concept of the marathon is derived from a legend of a Greek soldier who ran the 21 or so miles between Marathon and Athens without stopping, heralded the news of a great military victory, then promptly died. Nike would have you believe that his death is merely attributable to poorly designed sandals.
Many runners seem to view the activity as a transcendent experience. That is fine, they can have it. I prefer to have my hallucinations without a side of searing joint pain. For example, famed long-distance runner Steve Prefontaine said, "Most people run a race to see who is fastest. I run a race to see who has the most guts." I say we can best measure the amount of one's guts through vigorous ice cream consumption.
That said, I am not opposed to running as a concept. Over the years I have run to the bathroom, for office, and away from fights. I have participated in a 5K or six over the years for a number of good causes and decidedly gaudy T-shirts. I respect noncompetitive exercise, in much the same way I respect highway construction: as a necessary evil for the sake of greater society, even if it seems totally pointless and frustrating at the time. There are plenty of times when I've wished the guy sitting next to me on the Metro had done a few laps around the Dunkin Donuts.
And I have to respect the hard work and dedication to which J. has committed herself. She has made a substantial investment of time, energy and money. I won't even go into some of the gruesome physical risks of marathon-running except to say that you might be surprised how many parts of you can bleed after a few hours of friction.
That is why I'm going with her to Italy, to cheer her on in her pursuit of not only physical immortality, but in support of an AIDS cure as well. More than 20 million people have already died and 38 million others are living with HIV/AIDS. AIDS is now the leading cause of death for people age 15 to 59 worldwide. There is no joke here.
So pledge some money. In return, I will leave the country for a week and come back with more stories for this journal and some exotic new curse words.
Grazie.
I ask you to click here and make a donation.
In November, J. will travel to Florence, Italy to participate in the Firenze Marathon. Don't ask me why. I don't get it. The human body obviously was not designed to run 26.2 miles in a row. Consider: it serves no evolutionary purpose; natural dangers like hurricanes and tidal waves travel much farther much faster, and anything smaller and slower is going to give up chasing you after five or ten miles.
A marathon seems like an awful lot of stress to put on a body without a really good reason. So why do people consider this feat to be so much nobler than whacking their knees with a hammer for four hours? It should be noted that the whole concept of the marathon is derived from a legend of a Greek soldier who ran the 21 or so miles between Marathon and Athens without stopping, heralded the news of a great military victory, then promptly died. Nike would have you believe that his death is merely attributable to poorly designed sandals.
Many runners seem to view the activity as a transcendent experience. That is fine, they can have it. I prefer to have my hallucinations without a side of searing joint pain. For example, famed long-distance runner Steve Prefontaine said, "Most people run a race to see who is fastest. I run a race to see who has the most guts." I say we can best measure the amount of one's guts through vigorous ice cream consumption.
That said, I am not opposed to running as a concept. Over the years I have run to the bathroom, for office, and away from fights. I have participated in a 5K or six over the years for a number of good causes and decidedly gaudy T-shirts. I respect noncompetitive exercise, in much the same way I respect highway construction: as a necessary evil for the sake of greater society, even if it seems totally pointless and frustrating at the time. There are plenty of times when I've wished the guy sitting next to me on the Metro had done a few laps around the Dunkin Donuts.
And I have to respect the hard work and dedication to which J. has committed herself. She has made a substantial investment of time, energy and money. I won't even go into some of the gruesome physical risks of marathon-running except to say that you might be surprised how many parts of you can bleed after a few hours of friction.
That is why I'm going with her to Italy, to cheer her on in her pursuit of not only physical immortality, but in support of an AIDS cure as well. More than 20 million people have already died and 38 million others are living with HIV/AIDS. AIDS is now the leading cause of death for people age 15 to 59 worldwide. There is no joke here.
So pledge some money. In return, I will leave the country for a week and come back with more stories for this journal and some exotic new curse words.
Grazie.
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Aren't You Part Greek?
Date: 2006-08-23 01:52 am (UTC)BTW, The distance of the marathon was standardized in London in 1908. It was the distance from Windsor Castle to White City Stadium.
Re: Aren't You Part Greek?
Date: 2006-08-23 01:29 pm (UTC)Re: Aren't You Part Greek?
Date: 2006-08-23 08:11 pm (UTC)Re: Aren't You Part Greek?
Date: 2006-08-23 10:11 pm (UTC)you're both right, kids
Date: 2006-08-28 01:23 pm (UTC)A few days later, he then ran from Marathon to Athens to spread the word of the Athenians' victory at Marathon.
Upon telling everyone the news, he asked for some Gatorade. And who can blame him? The poor bastard ran almost 200 miles in a few days. When informed that Gatorade wouldn't be invented for a couple thousand years, he collapsed of a grief-induced heart attack and died.
-Phunwin
Re: you're both right, kids
Date: 2006-08-28 01:36 pm (UTC)Re: you're both right, kids
Date: 2006-09-08 05:57 pm (UTC)