My footfalls make me puke

I had a couple thoughts this morning and figured I would write them down.  So here goes.  Less than two weeks from the marathon.  I'm getting a bit freaked out.  Wondering if I did enough.  Or too much.  Or whether I should even be doing this.  I'm a sprinter, for God's sake.  Not a marathonist!  An old and ancient sprinter, but a sprinter none the less.  I  may write a book, How to Get From 100 Yards to 26.2 Miles In 30 Plus Years - One Man's Journey Into Hell is what I may call it.  Maybe I won't call it anything because I grew bored of it all during the writing of the title.  Another reason I will never write a book.  I don't have the attention span to do it.  Or the talent.  In addition, if it takes me 30 years to write the book, I will be dead anyway.  I do not want to be dead and famous.  I want to be alive, rich and famous.  Not that I have much of an ego, but I do like going to the MAC machine and knowing there is money there.  Rich to me is being able to use my debit card at a store without feeling the terror of whether or not the screen will come up "declined!"  I was at Wawa the other day with a line behind me and my card wouldn't swipe.  I knew there was money in the account but the card wouldn't work.  I'm like, "there is money there, try again."  I knew the people behind me were like, "yeah right, asshole, just skulk away and let us have our coffee.  There ain't no money in there and you know it."  Because that is what I think when someone's card doesn't work.  Fortunately for me, it did finally work.  I was three shades of red and the cashier gave me a fist pump when I left.  The cashier gave me a fist pump!!!  Because my card worked.  It was like I crossed the line at a marathon.  I won.  I had money and I had yogurt.  It is the simple things is life.  Which brings us back to the marathon.

I decided to get some compression socks.  I've been having plantar fasciitius issues(not going back to spell that correctly because I don't want to, and I'm not sure I know how, btw), and some calf cramping.  So, I thought the socks may help tighten everything up.  Keep it all together.  My problem is I am not a gear guy.  I wear compression shorts because I have chafing issues.  That is about it.  Compression shorts covered by running shorts.  I don't wear tight shorts because I really don't want people to see the parts of me which tend to chafe.  So, I bought some compression socks and I know that I'm going to look funny.  My friends are going to laugh.  I am so stuck in the '70's that it is hard for me to wear any kind of gear.  It reminds me of when I was young and we would play pick up football and there would always be one kid who showed up in full gear.  No one wanted to be that kid.  Now, I'm going to be that kid who shows up at the marathon with knee high compression socks and look really out of place.  Even though many people wear this stuff and look fine.  I hope the socks help with some of the stuff I am dealing with.  I can picture being annoyed with them half way through the marathon and trying to rip them off while I am running.  I really just want to cross the finish line and get to the delicious pierogies that Steamtown has.  Can't wait to see that picture.  Me with one sock around my head and the other dangling behind me and a pierogie sticking out of my mouth.  I love marathons. 

Here is the other thing.  I have written about this before.  Some runners get so bent out of shape about other runners listening to music.  I saw on the Runner's World site the other day, people were going off about it again.  Who cares if someone listens to music?  I don't care that you don't listen to music.  I don't care if you do listen to music.  If I were in the Olympics or a competitive track meet, I would not listen to music.  I can run with or without it.  I prefer with music.  Oh...so you need to listen to your breathing and your footfalls and concentrate on your pace?!  Well, fuck you!!  I can do all that and listen to music.  I forgot my ipod for the Philly Half a few weeks ago and I concentrated on my breathing and holy crap!!  That was so boring.  I breathed like one billion and thirty times.  I counted every breath.  Do you know that when you think too much about your breathing that you actually stop breathing?  Yes...it is true.  I stopped breathing for a half mile and it almost killed me.  So, thank you people who told me not to listen to music.  I almost died.  I can listen to music and think of all kinds of things when I run.  I is not like I'm concentrating on the lyrics or the music in general.  It is just there.  It helps me enjoy the whole running experience that much more.  Mostly, I don't care what other people do or wear or how they run.  I just like seeing them out there doing it. 

So, anyway.  Less than two weeks to the marathon.