Idea: The Shivery 30 Blanket Run

I visited National Cathedral today with Daniel. If you haven't had the guided tour, you really should do this. We learned a lot of great things. Daniel was terrific, really curious about everything; he asked great questions of the docent.

After a trip up to the observation deck, we made the obligatory visit to the Gift Shop. We got a couple things, and when we rang up, the sales person asked if we wanted to donate $15 to buy a blanket for a needy DC family. Since I'm not a heartless ogre, I went ahead and ponied up.

Then I started thinking: $15 for a blanket. Every time I run, I see homeless guys out there freezing in sweatshirts. And I'd already been playing with the idea of doing another ultramarathon and having people donate blankets. But here is a ready-made mechanism for getting blankets into peoples' hands... just waiting for a knucklehead like me to drive people to it.

I'm not thinking of doing another 46 miler for this... first off, Sònia wouldn't have it. And second off, Sònia wouldn't have it! But I already do 30 mile training runs pretty regularly. I could just do a 30 mile run, get people to sign up and send money to the Cathedral, and voila: cold homeless people get warm! A dollar a mile pledge would equal two blankets per donation. And the block around National Cathedral is just at one mile and a bit... I could actually run the thing around the Cathedral! So I'm giving some actual thought to this. I'm not saying it's a done deal... I'm just saying it sounds do-able. Really. Hmmm.

Daddy's Crazy 46-Miler: One week to go!

I'm down to seven days until the Daddy's Crazy 46-Miler. I feel like I'm ready: my training has gone well, I have my route well thought out, I know what my strategy is for the run. I even got interviewed by the Washington Post Express-- it should be on the newstands next Tuesday, I think. And yet it doesn't feel very real for me yet. When I did this a year and a half ago... it just feels like my life has changed so much since that time. We bought a house and moved from Woodley Park to Glover Park. Sonia started working at the State Department and I started walking Daniel to school in the mornings. The big snow came. I got a big promotion at FEMA. We adopted Sparky.

My dad died.

I suppose life was just different. And last time, I really wasn't certain it was possible for me to finish the run. This time, I know it's likely I'll finish it. And I'm pretty sure I'll get through it in a lot better shape this time.

One thing that keeps running through my mind is the question Vicky Hallett asked me last week in the interview: "Why are you doing this?" I don't remember my exact answer, but it was something like, "because I have to... I can't imagine not doing this." Even when I told Vicky this, I knew I wasn't fully satisfied with the answer. I wish I had said that I love the feeling of running for hours in the dark by myself. Or that the way I lived my life sixteen years ago, I used to dream about doing things like this but never could have. Or that running a long way, for me, is kind of a celebration of the fact that I'm free to do this kind of thing now.

I did explain that my head clears when I'm out there running. That running is like meditating for me, and that when I'm having a good day, the monkeys in my head stop chattering for a while. I didn't tell her that it's like a long prayer for me; it is. I wish I could explain that better. But it certainly is true, and it's a big reason for my running.

Anyway, seven days to go. And really, I can't wait to get out there and start running.

Daddy's Crazy 46-Miler: Date set - 6 November 2010

I just got off the phone with the coach from Oyster-Adam's school: we agreed I would run the Daddy's Crazy 46-Miler the first Saturday of November, 6 November 2010. I'm really excited! And now I have to figure out some logistics: how I'm going to train between now and then (I'm thinking 18 miles Friday, 26 the next Saturday, 25 again the following, then two weeks with no long run, then run it!). I have to pick the route (easy enough: 35 miles out and back on Connecticut and Georgia Avenues, then 15 miles around the Adams track). I have to put together a flyer directing people to the donation site.

Wow, that was easy. Now all I have to do is run the thing!