But I still have 94 monkeys to go

lifeofaplexorexic:

s-e-x-cellent:

Me hahaha

GPOYW

One thing that’s funny about this scene is that we already know Rebel Wilson’s character can do 80 different kinds of dance, she just has no interest in running up and down the bleachers like the crazy Type A director wants them to do. Different strokes, etc.

(Source: elementofcrime)

I entered the Nike Women’s Half D.C. lottery last month with an eye to running something new and unfamiliar. I didn’t expect that it would be so popular that most of the people I knew wouldn’t get in — and I would.

I’m sorry that I won’t be running with my friends measuringlife and yogawarriornyc after all, but will hopefully be cheering them on at other races soon. And I’m excited to see how this turns out. (I use this picture with tongue-in-cheek; I really am looking forward to it.)

I haven’t registered for a spring marathon, though. I think I needed more of a mental break from training than I realized — I went ahead and made a schedule for a potential spring race, then did my best to avoid it for a week and a half. This Saturday’s 15K is looking like something that I don’t want or need to do. I am not one to say I can “listen to my body” because I did such a swell job ignoring it for 24.75 years, but I know I was feeling burned out on running from training all summer. 

And to be honest? Training for another marathon is not my top priority right now. (“Ah yes, that was the post where I lost all my readers.”) During marathon training I neglected a lot of things in my life with the justification that it was “just till the race,” and in some areas it really showed. (It reminded me of the fall I applied to colleges, a productive and life-changing span of time when I worried a lot and enjoyed very little.) I’m not saying I wouldn’t do it again, because I fully intend to! But all these things have their seasons and right now is not rigid training, feel-guilty-if-you-miss-that-workout season for me. Maybe next week it will be.

Taking a work-sponsored fitness class today. Trying to channel my inner Chad.

Spent a few hours studying the muscular system last night. As an athlete, anatomy is really important to me, and being willing to stay out till 3AM for my education is just a measure of my commitment.

On Sunday I saw the documentary “Town of Runners” at the Tribeca Film Festival. 

The movie follows two young runners, Hawii and Alemi, two farmers’ kids with a talent for running in rural Ethiopia. The country is a track powerhouse, particularly the town of Bekoji where the movie takes place, producing stars like Derartu Tulu who won the New York City Marathon in 2009 and Kenenisa Bekele who currently holds the 5K and 10K men’s world records.

Like all sports documentaries, there are some tense moments in competition, but the documentary also looks at the friendship between the girls and how their lives are shaped by their sport. Hawii and Alemi are given the opportunity to move away from home and train with newly formed athletic clubs in hopes that they will someday get noticed by one of the major sports organizations and be paid to train for the Olympics and international track events. As one of the girls’ mothers puts it, running or education can elevate them from their lives on the farm. However, this necessitates that the girls move away from home while still teenagers, living in barracks-like situations and bound to their “clubs” by contracts from which they can be let go at any time — making adult decisions way before adulthood.

We all struggle against the limitations of our situations in some way. We all have to balance our health against the rest of our lives. But it’s a privilege to do so for fun, knowing that it’s just a hobby. Despite all the new opportunities that the professional sports machine in Ethiopia opens up for them, I can’t imagine the pressure these young runners are under to perform.

Read more about the movie and Bekoji’s running culture here.