Goals

Ali knows how to get me to do something by corrupting the way to keep me from doing something. I'm a born contrarian: tell me I simply must do something and you have just ensured I will not. "You simply must see this movie" means I will not go to see it in the theatre, I will actively avoid renting it or PPV ing it, and the only way I'll see it if it's playing in the background of some get together and I'm forced to sit down and watch it.  The inverse of this is that telling me that "Oh, that's not your thing" is the surest way to get me to do it.

So when we were at her lovely birthday dinner drinking Prosecco and eating probably the best hummus I'd ever partaken, Ali announced that she and Christine had discussed asking me if I wanted to join them in a half marathon at the end of November. "I told her that that wasn't your thing; that you were more of an elliptical gal", said Ali.

Naturally, the gauntlet thrown, I couldn't let it be. I am apparently running a half marathon at the end of November.

The training schedule has come out, I have clearly set myself a lofty goal. I am not a runner by any means: I usually get winded and cramped. But as I see my 35th birthday is a mere 2 months away, it would be nice to inaugurate my 36th year with having conquered something new. Furthermore, I could stand to lose more weight -- running would indeed help me with that.

I have some ancillary goals I've set that will fill out my year as well: catching up on my book club books (I have 3 on order and I need to read through 2 of them by mid-September), a new savings goal (GH and I are going to keep each other honest and dispense with fi$cal frivolity until we go to Mexico, some improvement projects. But the marathon will either be a great accomplishment that I will be proud of (more than a kilt even :) ) or a disappointment that dogs me for a while.

I'm aiming for the former.