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one Man of a Certain Age's journey to a healthier lifestyle

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Welcome to my fitness blog. I started running in early 2012, having set my sights on the Walt Disney World Half Marathon which I ran in January 2013. (You can read about that in my other blog). I intend to update this blog weekly with training progress and run reports. Please follow and join this blog (links below) for updates. If you want to share please feel free to, there are links to share via Facebook or Twitter below as well. You can also follow me on twitter. And please comment letting me know what you think!

My upcoming races: My recent races:
NYCRuns Central Park Half Marathon February 23, 2014 2013 Year in Review
Rock 'n' Roll USA Marathon - DC March 15, 2014  

My Blogs Thompson Family Web (Travel, Disney and fun) The Runner of a Certain Age Blog

Wednesday, January 15, 2014

WDW Marathon Weekend: The View From the (Social Media) Sidelines

I didn't go, OK?

Are you satisfied?

I wasn't there. The expo. The cool shirts. The meetups. Running through the castle. Riding Expedition Everest in the middle of a marathon. The medals. Oh, my Lord, the medals. Minnie, Mickey, Donald, Goofy - even Pluto. And Dopey. Lord help me, Dopey. None of these were mine, OK?

sigh

After experiencing all of these things at last year's Marathon Weekend (well, OK, only ran the Half Marathon. Only.), how on earth was I going to survive sitting up here in cold suburban New York while everyone else in the World (it seemed to me) was having all that fun eating Dole Whips and admiring each others bling? Well, my first plan was to curl up with my 2013 WDW Half Marathon medal and the tech shirt and the running guide with a bottle of wine and cry.

Don't judge me
Well, OK, on second thought that did not seem like the best approach.

Perhaps I could immerse my self in the world of social media and forget my troubles. Then it hit me. Since running in the Half Marathon last year I've developed online friendships with a lot of the folks who were down there in Florida enjoying the festivities. Dozens of them. My Facebook timeline was literally inundated with happy excited posts of travelling to Orlando and preparing for the races and meeting up with friends. At least there were a few worried posts about delayed flights. Those made me feel a bit better.

Then I knew what I had to do. UNFRIEND THEM ALL!!! Update on your flight landing in Orlando? UNFRIEND! Selfies in front of Spaceship Earth? UNFRIEND! Picture of race shirts? UNFRIEND! Posts about "Inaugural" being spelled wrong? DOUBLE UNFRIEND!

I mean if you were really my friend you would be here with me! Commiserating online about how much it sucks to not be there! You clearly don't value my friendship if you could leave me behind to wallow in this misery!

But then... just as I was steeling myself to sever any online attachments to all these thoughtless heathens... I started seeing pictures of smiling faces holding up their 5k medals in the early morning Florida sunlight, and... I found myself smiling. I was happy for them. And I wanted more. And more came in over the next days. Pictures and stories of personal accomplishment, camaraderie, friendship and excitement. Sure, there were a few sad stories of folks being sidetracked with injury, but these were always met with words of encouragement and hope and "you'll do it next time!" And I was reminded of what a fantastic group of folks it is who have taken up this crazy lifestyle of running distances. I've only met a few of you in person, and I hope to meet more at future events, but all of you show who you really are not just by what you accomplish, but by how you revel in the accomplishments of others and support each other. And that is why, over the course of the marathon weekend, I would log in first thing to Facebook and Twitter to see the latest, to see how you all were doing.

And thank you all so much for sharing.

Still... next year... next year it will be ME! MWAHAHAHAHA!

Check out my nascent podcast! Episode 6 will be up soon!


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