Marathons, Triathlons, and Stephen King

Three years ago, Andy Harrison convinced me to train and run my first marathon. It was a great experience. Then, last year, my (twin) brother convinced me to train and complete my first triathlon. You can read about that here.

My brother has not looked back since doing his first triathlon. He did another one in August and is now training for a big triathlon in Florida, set for the end of April. All of the money he raises goes toward cancer treatments for Haley Ray--a five-year-old from Ann Arbor fighting Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia for almost 2 years now. She will be undergoing chemotherapy and steroid treatment until July of 2009.

To donate money to this, or to learn more about Team-In-Training, read here.
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If you have a desire to become a good (or even decent writer), Stephen King has much to say on this subject. I just finished On Writing and have a great deal to digest.

King says that if you want to be a good writer, you have to become a voracious reader.

I also appreciated his metaphor on writing that drives his entire thesis. King had a huge desk that used to sit in the middle of his austere writing room. The desk was mammoth. After bouts with alcohol and drug addiction, King realized that he'd tried to make his life fit into his writing instead of allowing his writing to flow out of his life. Now, he has a simple, unimpressive desk in the corner of his writing room to remind him that art is not meant to dominate life.

I really like that.

Restless

Trying to sleep the night before a triathlon reminds me of being a young boy (six or seven) the night before Christmas.

Kara had some young girls from our church stay the night at our house a few years ago. One girl was so anxious, she came into our room and told Kara, "Mrs. Kara . . . I think I forgot how to fall asleep."

Amen.  

Sunday's Comin'

What does one think about less than 48 hours before his first triathlon? . . .

"A marathon doesn't sound too bad right now."

"Why did I let my family talk me into this?"

"I wonder if there's a chicken exit?"

"Man, that water is going to be cold."

"If a woman gets in my way in the river, will I swim over her?"

"Am I swimming first, then biking, then running? Or is it the other way around?"

"What if I have to go to the bathroom?"

"Will shaving my chest make me faster?"

"Drowning in the Detroit River isn't the worse way to die."

"Do those bike crashes you see on t.v. (where one idiot crashes 50 people) really happen?"

"I should've stuck with church softball."