First(marathon+fundraising+blog)=FUN

I'm completing the first week of my pursuit of stress-fun balance and I feel great. I'm having more fun than I know what to do with. Like me, you may be challenged to imagine such fun to be had while training for a marathon. Here are the fun non-running things training for a marathon has given me this week:

Finding new places in Seattle I'd heard of Gas Works Park for years, but had never been there until my first team practice on Saturday, 5/16. I'm so thankful for the practice, even if only for the fact that it took me to Gas Works for the first time. Some fun things about practice at Gas Works:

1. Being away from a computer
   
2. The team's driving directions made the park easy to find
   
3. Parking was close, plentiful, and free
   
4. Weather was great - lots of fresh warm air around that day
   
5. Scenery was surprising, with lots of old rusty big things, but beautiful (the old rusty big things were among, green grass, water, trees, and a few hills)
6. Finding the park (a huge confidence builder for me, even if the directions were easy to follow)

Shopping for new gear Team in Training held a shoe-fitting clinic at Road Runner Sports in Greenlake on Tuesday night, 5/19. Some fun things about Road Runner Sports shoe-fitting:

1. Being away from a computer
   
2. Finding a place in Seattle with Mike on a weeknight!!
3. Shopping
4. Stepping on the high-tech foot/body pressure sensor (measures where you put your weight over your foot when you walk and the shape of your foot/arch)
5. Running barefoot on the treadmill while they film your feet
6. Watching your feet run in slow motion
7. Learning about the different shoe, insole, and sock options for different feet/walking styles
8. Trying on shoes
9. Buying shoes
10. Stopping for dinner with Mike afterward
11. Wearing new shoes to work the next day

Receiving my first donations I had a good time completely reconstructing the form letter TNT suggests sending for donation requests. I knew going into the program that I was running more for myself and all the hard-working, over-stressed peeps in the world - the people who want so badly to not be working or not be busy, but are not able to make a change - even more than I would be running to help support cancer research and patient/family services. I enjoyed drafting my honest, albeit shallow, plea for support.

I hadn't imagined actually receiving donations though. I hadn't even expected any response (which is probably not very responsible of me, if I'm obligated to raise almost $3k). I was hit with surprise and gratitude when I saw two $25 donations within 10 minutes of my email. And that motivated me.

It motivated me to email more people during work for donations more often, especially if it meant I'd get to see more people not-working more often. I was inspired by the donors. I enjoy picturing Jane Doe and John Doe (names have been changed to protect the innocent), sitting at work and probably not working at all--or even being paid to not work at all. I can see them staring calmly at their yahoo or hotmail or gmail in boxes--obviously stress-free and set for life--and when they receive my random email asking for money toward the cause (which, as a reminder, is everyone having more fun and curing blood cancer), they 1) read it and laugh hysterically, 2) recover from laughing hysterically and ask why anyone would need to readjust their stress-fun or work-life balance, 3) decide that it's best to donate large sums of money to things you don't understand, and 4) pull out the platinum charge card and donate.


This is the kind of life I'm running for. I'm not sure how Jane and John Doe achieved such fun-filled greatness, but their donations are motivating me find my own way toward the same state. And don't worry - if you don't have time to pursue this Good Life, just know that I'm doing it for you.


I'll post next week with more fun stuff. Enjoy your week homies.

And if this blog is your only source of fun, then I encourage you to get more of it. Don't wait for me to post again - you can comment on this thing (right?) and have fun with that. And then I will have fun reading anything you have to say, even if you don't have the time to be funny.