Training for a marathon is a difficult thing. You've got to run a good 30+ miles a week to stay on top of your game, not to mention practicing running up hills, and down hills, and picking up your pace towards the end, and practicing how to eat and drink while you're at it. It gets tricky. At times it's downright discouraging, especially on a hot, humid, New York summer day... in the city... when it's 100 degrees in the shade with humidity... and no breeze... the concrete seemingly absorbs, reflects, and radiates the heat of the sun simultaneously. I've been told that there is a temperature at which even flies are too hot to lazily hover about, and resort to just sitting around instead. Sometimes I wish I were a fly.
Besides the temperature, there's the smog in the air; the constant flow of automobile traffic making it unpleasant if not virtually impossible to train in the streets. The emissions mixing with the other fine smells of the city is some kind of awful. Sometimes, on my way across bridges, where the cars bottleneck and the pollution stagnates along with them, the air is so thick that it hits me like a sucker punch to the chest, and my throat starts to itch and my eyes start to sting. It's that bad. On a hot day especially. The repetitious pounding of the pavement does no good for the knees either, so you've got to find your way to a park with some packed earth of some sort just so you can run and breath at the same time.
Then you've got yourself to contend with. I know after a long, hard day of work and school, the last thing I look forward to is running another 6 miles on top of rushing to and from places, up and down stairs, and in and out of buildings. It gets hard. It gets arduous. It gets harrowing.
The mental fatigue coupled with the physical exhaustion of simply surviving on the day to day in the city is enough to acquiesce to resting at home all nights of the week and whenever possible; forget about having a social life, really. Now imagine convincing yourself that at the end of the day, all you really want to do is strap on your shoes and go for a nice long run.
What is this all for? Why are the four of us fabulous fine women subjecting ourselves to this kind of self-torture? Besides generating excitement simply by being a feat on its own, running the marathon for charity has been, thus far, a really enlightening experience. Fund raising has proven to be a far more daunting task than the running itself. We've thought about dropping out at times, but then we think about what we're doing it for, and it all makes sense again.
Did you know that more than 43 percent of New York City children are overweight or obese? That's nearly half of all kids in NYC. That puts them at risk for early onset of heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, and other chronic illnesses that undermine their quality of life and that, nationally, leads to health-care costs in excess of $100 billion annually.
Also, the student-teacher ratios for physical education in New York City elementary schools are estimated to be 730 to 1. That's ridiculous. Can you imagine having PE with 730 kids? That would be one GIANT dodgeball game.
Two out of every five New York City public schools offer no fitness activities at all. I used to tutor a girl in middle school whose fancy schmancy uptown private school had no gym of its own, and shared one with several other schools, allowing the students to be there once a week, requiring transportation to and from the facilities. Sometimes, when she forgot her swimsuit or her sneakers, she didn't have to go. If her school was inadequate in providing physical education, imagine the multitude of other schools in NYC that don't have the benefit of financial support.
That's where Team for Kids comes in and provides schools and other youth organizations with running programs that gives kids something to do. Gets 'em active. Gives 'em a sense of belonging to a community. Gets 'em to set goals and work towards achieving them. Having them learn by doing, by running, thereby making them aware of their own health and how to be an active participant in their physical well-being.
I know that I've benefited immensely by running for Team for Kids. It's made me think about my own limitations, and the limitlessness of what one can do with the right amount of desire and encouragement.
Thanks to all of you for your continued support in this overwhelming endeavor! Big hugs and sloppy wet kisses!
Besides the temperature, there's the smog in the air; the constant flow of automobile traffic making it unpleasant if not virtually impossible to train in the streets. The emissions mixing with the other fine smells of the city is some kind of awful. Sometimes, on my way across bridges, where the cars bottleneck and the pollution stagnates along with them, the air is so thick that it hits me like a sucker punch to the chest, and my throat starts to itch and my eyes start to sting. It's that bad. On a hot day especially. The repetitious pounding of the pavement does no good for the knees either, so you've got to find your way to a park with some packed earth of some sort just so you can run and breath at the same time.
Then you've got yourself to contend with. I know after a long, hard day of work and school, the last thing I look forward to is running another 6 miles on top of rushing to and from places, up and down stairs, and in and out of buildings. It gets hard. It gets arduous. It gets harrowing.
The mental fatigue coupled with the physical exhaustion of simply surviving on the day to day in the city is enough to acquiesce to resting at home all nights of the week and whenever possible; forget about having a social life, really. Now imagine convincing yourself that at the end of the day, all you really want to do is strap on your shoes and go for a nice long run.
What is this all for? Why are the four of us fabulous fine women subjecting ourselves to this kind of self-torture? Besides generating excitement simply by being a feat on its own, running the marathon for charity has been, thus far, a really enlightening experience. Fund raising has proven to be a far more daunting task than the running itself. We've thought about dropping out at times, but then we think about what we're doing it for, and it all makes sense again.
Did you know that more than 43 percent of New York City children are overweight or obese? That's nearly half of all kids in NYC. That puts them at risk for early onset of heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, and other chronic illnesses that undermine their quality of life and that, nationally, leads to health-care costs in excess of $100 billion annually.
Also, the student-teacher ratios for physical education in New York City elementary schools are estimated to be 730 to 1. That's ridiculous. Can you imagine having PE with 730 kids? That would be one GIANT dodgeball game.
Two out of every five New York City public schools offer no fitness activities at all. I used to tutor a girl in middle school whose fancy schmancy uptown private school had no gym of its own, and shared one with several other schools, allowing the students to be there once a week, requiring transportation to and from the facilities. Sometimes, when she forgot her swimsuit or her sneakers, she didn't have to go. If her school was inadequate in providing physical education, imagine the multitude of other schools in NYC that don't have the benefit of financial support.
That's where Team for Kids comes in and provides schools and other youth organizations with running programs that gives kids something to do. Gets 'em active. Gives 'em a sense of belonging to a community. Gets 'em to set goals and work towards achieving them. Having them learn by doing, by running, thereby making them aware of their own health and how to be an active participant in their physical well-being.
I know that I've benefited immensely by running for Team for Kids. It's made me think about my own limitations, and the limitlessness of what one can do with the right amount of desire and encouragement.
Thanks to all of you for your continued support in this overwhelming endeavor! Big hugs and sloppy wet kisses!
1 comment:
It’s easy to forget that running, particularly marathon running, is a difficult sport even when it is for charity, and charity events and parties can be a marathon of a different kind run one small donation at a time toward a goal thousands of dollars away. I hope our Turtles reach all of their goals without endangering their health and I hope they realize no matter what they have already made a difference and run a graceful race.
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