I did my first AIDS Marathon in 2003. It was in Honolulu and at mile 24, I turned to my friend Darren Elms and said, "if I ever say I'm doing another marathon again, put a bullet in my head."
I did my second AIDS Marathon again in Honolulu in 2004. I did it that year, because my dearest Tara Ochs said she wanted to do a marathon, so who was I to tell her no. To date, that was the easiest experience I ever had. We did all of our runs per training. I even stayed back with my friend Rhonda so she could finish her marathon in just under six hours, which was her goal. (We came in at 5:58)
Again, I said, "I'll never do another marathon." Then the AIDS Marathon Training Program said they were doing a marathon in Dublin, Ireland. So in 2004, I did my third. And it was the worst experience I ever had (next to NY). It rained. My legs stopped working. I crawled for most of mile 25. There is a picture of my that looks like that 14 year old girl screaming and crying over the dead body of the student at Kent State.
I will NEVER do another marathon, I said. And then they announced they were going to Florence, Italy in 2006. Well, duh.
Florence was amazing. Shannon, Catie, Ryan and I had an amazing trip. To date, it's my favorite vacation I've ever had. One day when I'm very old, I will write about all the things that happened on that trip and our day in Rome, and they will seem tame by the standards of 2056.
But then I really did take off a year. I was unemployed. CROSSING JORDAN had wrapped. I had no idea where I was going to land. It was not a good year.
I started in early 2008, training with Darren again (and did, up until a week before the ride) for the AIDS Lifecycle to benefit the Gay and Lesbian Center. HOWEVER... I was in the middle of pitching a pilot and had a network meeting the first day of the ride. (A WEEK BEFORE!) They wouldn't allow me to join the ride in progress. (Claiming I wouldn't have seen the safety video. DON'T YOU THINK I SHOULD HAVE SEEN THE SAFETY VIDEO BEFORE I STARTED TRAINING, AND NOT THE FIRST DAY OF THE RIDE?!) I was REALLY pissed and will never do the ride again. That was the worst training of my entire life. I would run 100 miles before I get on a bike again. So I opted to start training for the marathon again.
I was producing a documentary. Ryan was coaching Honolulu and I dove back in. But for some reason, my group was much faster. I couldn't keep up. And on Halloween, I discovered why. A giant lump on my testicle. My exhaustion and feelings of being run-down all the time was because I had cancer. I had the surgery a week before the marathon and didn't get to run.
Then last year, 2009, I decided to run for Livestrong. Finally running for cancer. Because I was a cancer survivor, so therefore, I thought, I have to run for the thing that tried to kill me. (And due to the extra 20 pounds I put on, the job I was in, recovering from major surgery, even eight months later... I just wasn't trained.) My IT band went out at mile 10. I never finished.
So this year is a big one. It's been four years since I crossed a finish line.
And I'm happy to report, this is the last year of the AIDS Marathon Training Program.
Happy? Because the amazing people who run Los Angeles are no longer part of the corporate company that ran the program for so long. Without going into those politics, it's an amazing opportunity and they now work DIRECTLY with AIDS Project Los Angeles. (The transition already started with this marathon.)
Never run a marathon? Now is the time.
Ask Zen. Zen had never run a marathon and for years said she never could. And now she's finished 18 miles and coming up on 20 in two weeks.
ANYBODY can run a marathon.
And the new team is TEAM 2 END AIDS. They just started training for the Los Angeles Marathon and if you're interested, sign-up here.
Or if you don't want to train for six months, you can click here to donate! I have just about $900 to go to reach my fundraising goal in two weeks. Every dollar helps and it's tax-deductible!
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