Just Call Me Pheidippides

I have a tendency to not believe things I hear. A typical response when someone tells me some random fact is “Nu-uh”. Perhaps it’s a hangover from teaching teenagers for so many years or perhaps it’s my egomaniacal illusion that I know everything already. So when The Husband told me the history of the marathon, before I could even get the “N...” sound out of my mouth he blurts out “Look it up!” So I did. (I love Google.)

“The marathon race commemorates the run of the soldier Pheidippides from a battlefield near Marathon, Greece, to Athens in 490 B.C., bringing news of a Greek victory over the Persians. Pheidippides collapsed and died at the end of his historic run, thereby setting a precedent for dramatic conclusions to the marathon.”

I went on to learn that the original trek was only 25 miles (not the current 26.2) and some other boring stuff, while trying to ignore the background cacophony of “I told you so!” (Damn Google.)

Why, oh why, do I care, you ask? Because I’m going to China in May to run on the Great Wall of China!!! One of my BFFs, who is an uber-athlete and breezes through triathlons and marathons as easily as crossing the street, is running the marathon and has coerced me into doing the 10K. Good news/bad news: I’ll probably drop dead during it.....but what a fabulous story it’ll make for my funeral!

Check out this death march:

Disclaimer

Let me start off this blog by saying, I’ve never had an original thought. Ever. I’m a perpetual “me too” –er. Seriously, D starts her own business, I start my own business; Jilly G moves to California, I move to California; The King goes back to school, I go back to school; Carrie writes a Christmas letter, I write a Christmas letter…..peer-pressure much? And, yes Mom, if my friends decided to jump off a bridge, I’d be right there with them. So, since Jilly G has started a blog about her latest travel adventures, I must respond with a resounding “me too!!!”

Secondly, I never follow through. With anything. My life is a compilation of unfinished projects. Scrapbooks, journals, cross-stitching, crafts, relationships, marriages, school – all fall into the “it was fun for a while, but I got bored” category. I’d like to think it’s because I’m so above it all (riiiiiight) that I get bored easily, but in reality it’s just because I’m lazy and have the attention span of a gnat. (Although if you think about it, gnats have a pretty long attention span because they keep hovering around forever until you kill them, but I digress.) So I’m predicting this blog won’t last an entire year. You should get in on the pool now to predict when it ends.

Next, let me assure you that I will most likely offend some of you. You know my philosophy on that...if you don’t like it, change the channel. Not to worry, I won’t be waxing poetic on politics. Just. Don’t. Care. I will probably also plagiarize, exaggerate, and break all kinds of copyright laws. However, suing me for all I’m worth might get you a few crates of scrapbooking supplies. (Secret’s out – I ain’t rich.) However, to enable us all to maintain some sense of dignity, I’ll be using stage names for my fellow cast members.

Bored yet? Why yes, yes I am.