I thought it was crazily inspirational. The film follows six people as they prepare for the Boston Marathon. One guy was there to win. Can you imagine that? Thinking to yourself, "I'm going to win the Boston marathon this year." And the guy had a reasonable chance! It wasn't outside the realm of possibility he'd win!
Another guy started running marathons for his 60th birthday. He wasn't out to win.
So I watched this movie, and I got really emotionally invested in it. When the one guy hurt his knee, I had sympathy. I cringed for him, and I felt his loss.
At the end, I decided friend Blaine was right. I can and should run a marathon with him. So I wrote him an email committing to it.
I've still got a long way to go. My knee can't do it yet, but it will. My training up to this point has been little more than going to physical therapy and walking, but I'm on it. And I'm back on the rowing machine, which has weirdly never been an issue for my knee.
Quick aside on the rowing machine. It's Blaine's, and he set me up with it because he's a quality guy who didn't want to see his friend (that's me!) waste away. It's a quality machine, too. I did change a major thing on it, though. The handle was too short, so I replaced it with a flat mountain bike bar. It's much better now.
But the real problem with the rowing machine—with any and every rowing machine—is they're boring as hell to use. When I run, I have earbuds in my head and my iPod shuffle clipped to my waist. It plays music, mostly power metal, that I don't listen to. I zone out. My body can take care of running on its own without any input from me most of the time. The rowing machine, though, requires you maintain your posture, keep your rhythm, and don't bash your knuckles into your knees. In other words, you have to concentrate just enough you can't zone out, but not so much you can really focus and zone out on focusing.
It's a lot like playing Desert Bus, in fact.
The rowing machine requires podcasts and audiobooks. Fortunately, I have both of those, but it's a pain in the butt, and I look forward to when I can get back on the high school track or elliptical at the gym, and thence to real running out in the world.
I think the point I was making is that, inspired by Spirit of the Marathon and sick of being a slave to my knee, I've committed to running the Long Beach Marathon on October 9, 2011 with Blaine. I've begun training. It's baby steps, but I'm stepping in the right direction.
I thought a blog on the subject might be interesting. If not to my family and friends, then to posterity, you uninterested bastards.
