I won't lie, I think we're kind of awesome. I mean, it's one thing to convince your friends to go for pizza instead of sushi, but it's a whole different ball game to peer pressure folks into torturing their bodies for months on end - all for the purpose of crossing a finish line after 26.2 miles.
Okay, okay. We can't reeeeally take credit for convincing our friends to run this marathon with us - but it makes us feel cooler to think that we did. Truth of the matter is that they too had the marathon itch. We all wanted to focus our efforts on a palpable goal - knowing that, if we put in the necessary hours preparing our bodies and minds, it's going to feel pretty stellar on race day when we cross the finish line together.
And since we'll probably be referencing these folks several times in the next few months, I felt it necessary to give them a little introduction...
Now, you've already met Tess, and she's pretty much the bomb.com. To be perfectly honest, I wouldn't have believed her when she told me she registered for the MCM if she hadn't included a screen shot of her registration page. Our exchange went a little something like this...
Tess: Holy moly!
Me: Shut the front door. Did you really do it? Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!
We then lobbed one over to Megs (you'll meet her in a sec) to peer pressure her, too.
Me: Your turn, Megs.
Megs: TESS! FOR REAL?? Okay guys, I'm sweating. I need a phone date. When does training officially start?? OMG OMG OMG OMG!
Yes, we're aware that we talk like tweens.
Tess: I'm freaking out, too. I've aged a lot since yesterday (which just so happened to be Tess' birthday). I am really committing to things these days.
Megs: What should I put for expected finish time? Yes, I'm signing up.
Tess: I put 6 hours.
Yeeeah. So we're not exactly planning to break any records here, but we're pretty darn excited about going through this whole business together. Sadly, Tess lives in Dallas, so we won't actually get to train with her. To stick to a training plan, she's going to run with a group in D-town that requires long runs on Sunday mornings beginning at 5 am. Yeesh. More power to you, g-fri.
Now meet Megan. She agreed to run the 10-miler with us a while back even though the running thing isn't natural for her either. It has been extremely helpful to go through all of the same bang-ups and hang-ups together and hold each other accountable for our training. Megs has a passion for 90210 (Hi Dylan!), cereal (LOTS of it) and all things fashion (Seriously, the girl's closet makes me misty-eyed). Oh, and she also goes to the same gym as me, so it's indescribably helpful to have a treadmill buddy to keep me going (and help me stand upright). Both Tess & Megs are hot yoga junkies so I have a feeling they'll be creating their own unique training plan that involves a proper balance of the two.
And then there's this guy. We can't really count Patrick as a "footsy friend" because, first of all, we won't see him on race day... like, at all. He will have finished the marathon, taken a shower (he'll need it) and refueled by the time we're anywhere near the finish line. He has also completed the MCM before, so as far as we're concerned, he's kind of an expert. Secondly, there's not a snowball's chance in hell that Patrick will EVER be guest blogging on SFOF, much less, allow us to gab about his training on here. In fact, the only reason you're seeing him now is because he's traveling for a few weeks somewhere in South America and won't see this post until after it's too late [insert evil laughter here]. But what makes this all even better, his dad has signed up to run the marathon for his second time, too.
Anyway, that's our "team" for now. We hope to make some more footsy friends as training kicks into gear, too. We're weighing our training options right now and considering joining a running club in DC. Liv is pretty gung ho about the idea of joining a running group, but I'm still on the fence. What works best for you guys? How do you hold yourself accountable when training for a race?
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