Going for the Gold

If awards were given for watching the Olympics, I would be in contention for a gold medal.  Last weekend, our Saturday plans were cancelled due to inclement weather, so us Rigbys stayed indoors (very rare) and the TV stayed on for two days straight (unheard of).   While watching the Games we hung some art, cleaned, cooked, and of course played around with Colette when she wasn’t napping or snacking.  I love the summer Olympics and even like watching the obscure, “unpopular” events such as slalom canoeing (who knew?) and skeet shooting (who cares? Me! ).  I also love swimming, track & field and gymnastics just like the rest of the world and have watched the Games every night since the opening ceremony. 

Those lifegaurds better get paid well!

Speaking of exciting spectator sports, did I mention that I’m running the New York City marathon on November 4?  Well, I am.  Before training began, my running routine focused more on eating bagels and less on running.  I’m in the third week of my 16-week training.   I’m currently running about 20 miles a week and it will steadily increase to about 35 miles a week.  Unlike my first marathon, I’m training not only to finish, but to finish under 4:35. If I stick to my training, I know I can do it.  Jeff, also training for the marathon, continues to amaze and amuze me. He is a closet-athlete, whom hydrates with Oreos and stretches in jeans and a button down dress shirt.  Improving my health and fitness motivates me.  Jeff, on the other hand seems to care little of the health benefits and more interested in tracking and analyzing maps, stats and data.  It seems he’s conducting a science experiment, in the form of a marathon. At this time, we’re not planning on running the race together, mostly because being tethered to someone on such a long race is annoying, and we're unsure if we can run at the same pace, but time will tell.

The main thing that’s been stressing me out, is not the training, but all the technology associated with it.  When  I step out my front door for a 4-mile run, one might suspect that I’m venturing to the moon and not the local park.  I have a Garmin GPS watch, and iPod, and an iPhone.  All three devices are capable of measuring time, distance, pace but they all report back different information.  Until I make the time to test and calibrate for accuracy, I choose to the follow which ever device shows me running the longest distance in the shortest amount of time.

One editor wrote that the US Olympic uniforms made us look like a
gorilla militia from Greenwich, Connecticut.  Hilarious.