Not An Art Walk But An Art Run, by Arthur Tebbel – Pop Art #230 | @MDWorld

November 13, 2013 Arthur Tebbel 1 Comment

I come to you all, dear readers, with a heart full of fear.  I’m not talking about the chaos that is our government or the heartbreaking destruction being wreaked upon the Philippines.   I’m not even talking about the turmoil about to be dropped by yet another generation of video game console wars.  I’m afraid because I am five days away from running a half marathon.

I know this isn’t that big a deal.  I’m sure thousands of people run this distance or more every week.  There’s even a sumo wrestler who runs full marathons.  That’s not even a joke but I assure you I would pay money to watch a highlight of his distance running career.  The maximum time for this race is four hours that is a pace of about 18 minutes per mile or a brisk walk.  I can finish this race, that will not be a problem, I’m sorry that I’m wasting all of your time while I talk myself in to this on paper here.

Training for distance running is an incredibly rewarding and fantastic horrible time suck.  Running takes forever.  Running a long way takes even longer.  Making music mixes for long runs is a pain, as you have to take the beats per minute into account and that is just exhausting.  Exhausting yourself fucking around with iTunes before you even lace up your shoes is a bad way to start.  I’ve started to try listening to podcasts while running which will certainly lead to me having the wonderful reputation as the guy who runs around Los Feliz wearing headphones and screaming for people to have brisker conversations.  It’s a charming reputation though; really helps clear out a table at the local Starbucks.

I shouldn’t be too negative about this.  I’m proud of myself for attempting this and I plan to be completely insufferable when I complete it.  People hate to run.  18 months ago I hated to run.  15 years ago when I was playing high school football I was probably the worst runner in the history of the sport.  Because of this antipathy people are super impressed by any amount of distance running.  I’ve even gotten effusive compliments for running a 5k.  Anyone on this earth can run a 5k if they tried for a couple weeks.  It’s just not that much of a distance.  God, I’ve already turned into one of those running snobs.  I’m so sorry.

The best part of this race is that it is in fabulous Las Vegas.  The race is at night and goes down the strip.  It should be a blast.  If you happen to be in Vegas this Sunday and want to hang out with me after the race just wander around listening to the horrified gasps of people watching a man eat all of the food in Nevada.  I think I’ll have earned it.