Getting Going
I’m not sure who will read this blog, and I don’t know if I’d feel more relieved or disappointed if the answer is “no one.” Whoever views this, hello and welcome. This marks the first entry in what I hope will chronicle a two-pronged comeback: as a writer and as a runner. Both writing and running have been on hold due to inaction and injury, which has eroded my confidence in my ability to get my mind and body back in shape. I’m feeling stupid and stiff, wondering how I’ll ever regain a sense of flow at the keyboard or striding out on the trail.
As a writer (ha ha — I cannot type that phrase without flashing back on a public service announcement promoting literacy that aired on TV nearly 20 years ago and sent my then-boyfriend/now-husband and me into a fit of laughter. It featured Sylvester Stallone standing improbably in front of shelves filled with leather-bound sets of books and speaking as though he were still Rocky Balboa. “As a writer,” Stallone said, “I have great appreciation for the written word,” which came out like “… da witten wood.”)
Here’s the short answer to why I’m making the time to blog: I’m 39, the mother of two, and living in Piedmont, CA. I used to be a journalist and editor, and now I freelance magazine articles occasionally. Two things in life that I have experienced moderate success at, and that I love when they’re going well, are writing and running. Neither is going very well at the moment. This blog represents my commitment to get both going again. I’m out of the habit of writing and can scarcely write two sentences without deleting to revise, toggling to check email, getting up to go to the kitchen and stare in the refrigerator and haranguing myself internally. I haven’t run for two months due to a double-whammy of injury (quad strain followed by a fall that broke the navicular bone in my foot and screwed up some tendons). I had big plans, running-wise, this year. But after a spring in which I increased my mileage and bagged a couple of age-division wins in a marathon and 50K, my plans to bump up my speed and distance all came ridiculously, predictably (if you believe, like the ancient Greeks, that hubris inevitably leads to downfall) crashing down, hobbling me in a cast for the summer.
I’ll write mainly about running, but as with my best training runs — the kind that start out one way, with one kind of feeling, and lead to a destination and sensation wholly unexpected, usually for the better — I can’t say now what this blog will be about. Parenting, marriage, aging, the house and community will probably find their way in here. I’d also periodically like to spotlight other “older” athletes in the Piedmont/Oakland area who deserve recognition and kudos. The point is: I want to make the process of writing and running my focus and the goal–not write to get published, not run to win a race, but rather write and run because the act of spending an hour or more engage in a thoughtful, creative, physically demanding way makes all 24 hours of the day feel more enriched and worth living.
I recall Anne Lamott writing about how we all suffer from shitty first drafts. This is no exception. But it is a first step. And soon, I hope, I will make my first steps running again. The foot and ankle still have some healing to do. With both writing and running, I will need to come back gradually and thoughtfully, to avoid tripping and falling on my ass again.
Tags: life, marathoning, Oakland, parenting, Piedmont, Running, trail running, writing