Day 3 (Summer of Hell)

So I've declared this the "Summer of Hell". No it isn't summer, yet, but it will be. Here is an explanation. A couple weeks ago I received an invite via e-mail from a wonderful woman at church that wanted to announce a sort of justice project that would appeal to the North Scott crowd. I am often the guy people go through to find out if they can make an announcement at church. More often than not, you can't. That is the unwritten rule (we try to keep announcements out of the worship service as much as possible so that we don't have 1/2 hour of announcements each week. With everything going on, we could EASILY spend that much time). Then I was asked if I would sign up for it (I realize you don't know what it is yet). I thought that it would be good for me to do it and that it would yield many life-changing benefits ya de da. The following is the proposal that I received and the commitment I made.

A group of first time and experienced runners will join together to train for and run the Chicago Rock ‘n Roll Half Marathon. Team members will not only be running the half marathon, but raising money for World Vision. The event is scheduled for August 2nd. World Vision is the world’s largest Christian humanitarian relief and development organization. They are working in nearly 100 countries to tackle the root causes of poverty through long term development projects that focus on things like: Clean Water, Agricultural Development, Health Care and Immunizations, Education and Literacy and Economic Development.

Before you start rolling your eyes and chuckling under your breath I want to tell you that I am serious and if you wouldn't mind, I could REALLY use your encouragement.

So I am training for a half marathon. approx: 13 miles. I watch biggest loser and I believe it can be done. Also, people at North Ridge must be looking for ways to help because there were about 25 people that signed up. That is roughly 1 out of every 6 people in the congregation.

It is only day 3 though and this is how I feel: "#&^@ $*%& #*&$"

The biggest part of me doing this (as selfish as it is) is so my children and wife have a healthy, not to mention sexy husband and dad. I know there are people that need water and it is a blessing to be able to do this "for" them, but as far as I am concerned, I need to find other "justice" oriented projects because this one is for me and my family.

If you came into my house right now you would see note cards on every door, our radio in the car, and my laptop that say things like, "Stop the Pop" "Pop is BAD for you!" "Pop will kill you" "Pop is the DEVIL" "Pop is like sin, pleasing on the outside, but it eats you up inside". Why are there note cards everywhere? Trust me, it isn't because I want to quit drinking pop. It is because I so HATE running that I get home and don't want to do ANYTHING that will ruin my work. No kidding, I HATE running with a passion. It hurts and at least 2 times in the last 3 days I've contemplated "accidentally" tripping in front of a moving vehicle so as to escape the pain. My legs are numb, my lungs are in pain, and my body hurts. It sucks. When I got home from running today, Pam was eating some cookie dough that we made pre-training. I didn't tell her this, but I was kind of pissed. Not because she was eating cookie dough, but because I don't even want it in my house. I want nothing to do with anything that will ruin what I just worked so hard to do. It sucks.

On the other hand, though it has only been three days, I feel better. I'm in a lot of pain, but it is weird. It is a sort of outside pain. I don't feel sluggish and gross anymore. Not that I am feeling super healthy yet. I think I'll feel healthy when I get to the point that I can go more than 1/2 mile before I feel like hitting the pavement, rolling up into a little ball, and crying until I die.

So this is my unofficial "Summer of Hell" journal. By the way, I get another child here in a few weeks, and there is nothing hell about that. "Summer of Hell" refers only to my quest to become healthy and in a shape other than round. Speaking of quests, I recently downloaded some huge epic type music to have on my ipod so that when I run I can feel like I am running to save the world! Maybe I am.