Hi, I’m Jorie Mark, and I’m getting ready to train for my first half-marathon, the ING Miami race in January. I’d signed up for the race months ago, planning to train on my own, but then heard about Team in Training, which raises funds for blood cancers including leukemia and lymphoma.
I thought this was so cool. I got into running to become healthier—to make the most of my life. How wonderful that by participating in this program, I could help save someone else’s.
Plus, I’ll admit it: I might have been at risk for burning out before the race without this higher purpose. When I first started running, I was really loving how as I racked up the miles, I seemed to be leaving my excess weight in the dust. (You can count calories and avoid carbs all you want, but nothing will get you into a smaller size more effectively than running 20 miles a week.) Having crossed the “finish line” of my goal weight, though, I probably would have been able to maintain it without getting up at 5:50 every single morning, sometimes in the rain, to run through sidewalks littered with ginko-berry mush and the occasional dead frog or lizard.
But running with the goal of raising money to support leukemia research and patient care has really given me a reason to trudge on. 13.1 miles, here I come!
I hope you’ll follow along with me as I gain endurance, learn more about the true heroes I’m running for—and hopefully gain some kind of yoga-esque sense of balance along the way. (People are always telling me, as I can be quite high-strung and Type A, that I should do yoga, but the truth is, I get bored saluting the sun and find that the closest I get to “meditation” is actually when I’m flying down the street with my heart rate jacked up to 164 with Bob Dylan’s “Highway 51” blaring in my earbuds.)
This blog will journal my training days. Thanks for reading it and for supporting me. If you would like to sponsor my running—every little bit helps, even a few bucks would get me closer to my $1800 fundraising minimum—please click here to donate.
I thought this was so cool. I got into running to become healthier—to make the most of my life. How wonderful that by participating in this program, I could help save someone else’s.
Plus, I’ll admit it: I might have been at risk for burning out before the race without this higher purpose. When I first started running, I was really loving how as I racked up the miles, I seemed to be leaving my excess weight in the dust. (You can count calories and avoid carbs all you want, but nothing will get you into a smaller size more effectively than running 20 miles a week.) Having crossed the “finish line” of my goal weight, though, I probably would have been able to maintain it without getting up at 5:50 every single morning, sometimes in the rain, to run through sidewalks littered with ginko-berry mush and the occasional dead frog or lizard.
But running with the goal of raising money to support leukemia research and patient care has really given me a reason to trudge on. 13.1 miles, here I come!
I hope you’ll follow along with me as I gain endurance, learn more about the true heroes I’m running for—and hopefully gain some kind of yoga-esque sense of balance along the way. (People are always telling me, as I can be quite high-strung and Type A, that I should do yoga, but the truth is, I get bored saluting the sun and find that the closest I get to “meditation” is actually when I’m flying down the street with my heart rate jacked up to 164 with Bob Dylan’s “Highway 51” blaring in my earbuds.)
This blog will journal my training days. Thanks for reading it and for supporting me. If you would like to sponsor my running—every little bit helps, even a few bucks would get me closer to my $1800 fundraising minimum—please click here to donate.
Stay tuned for my next topic, coming later this week. I can't decide whether to title it "The Blooper Reel," "Wardrobe Malfunctions," or "When Your Pants Can't Keep Up With Your Pace."
Keep on keepin' on, runner girl.
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