A first marathon for AIDS- In Memory of Imette St. Guillen

Remember that song by Salt'N'Pepa from the 80's? (for those of you who can't remember back that far, it's now popular because of the Nextel/Sprint commercials where the 3 random guys are dancing to it in their office and are interrupted by their boss.)

Yeah, I've been pushin' it. Oooh, baby bay-beh.

I've gone on a couple of the solo runs that I committed to do in order to train. Three, actually. The first was at night, when the moon was almost full. The air was SO sweet! And the stars were kinda hidden, but once in a while one or two would peek through. And imagine, I was running with my Fabolous 'Street Dreams' CD in my walkman. I didn't think that particular music would keep me motivated, but I ran 2 miles (WHEW!! Ran most of it, only walked once, and then cooled off at the end) and it had me pumped. "Fly enough to do better but gifted enough to not give a –"

Ahem. I was saying?

"What, no iPod?", I hear you ask.

Nope. Lemme tell y'all a secret. I'm still running with the walkman my mother gave me for my 21st b-day. When I first came back from Puerto Rico I didn't even know what an iPod was. No, no joke. If it weren't for the weight of my cd-spinnin' music machine I wouldnt' care, but the thing is heavy. I drool over micro-mini iPods on the last leg of the run leading home.

My other two runs have been in the mornings before work. My position now means I start at 10A instead of 7:30A, so I gots it like that. I really pushed those runs. Dripped sweat, really ran full out. Past the horse farm. Ohhh remind me to tell you about that experience later. But yeah. Then I sat down all morning at work and stiffened up. I'm thinking there has to be a better way to do this, because I love running at night but it's hard to get out the door, and even harder to get over my fam's objections. Don't get me wrong, the neighborhood's a safe one. (I mean, we have a police station and a hospital in the same block where I run, so I'm not worried about crime.) It's just the whole specter of having your loved one disappear into the darkness that's freaking them out.

After Feb. 25th I understand that a lot better.

peace

Marisa