Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Uranus Here I Come



I am a late adopter. I'm always one of the last to catch up with the latest trends.

The Laser came out in 1971. I didn't discover it until the early 80's.

Blogging took off in 1999. I didn't start doing it until 2005.

I don't have a smart phone (yet). I think it's because I would feel slightly intimidated to have a phone that's smarter then me.

For the last year or two I've been thinking about taking up half-marathon running more seriously. I ran my first half-marathon in 2007 and did a couple last year. I keep thinking it would be cool to get my fitness level up to a point where I could run half marathons on a regular basis. Maybe do one in each of the six New England states in the same year?

I recently discovered that there is an organization called Half Fanatics for people who are half-marathon crazy. They even have criteria for advancing through the various levels of Half Fanatic starting with Neptune (2 half marathons within 16 days) through Saturn (4 half marathons in different US states in 51 days) to Vulcan (sorry - unattainable.) That sounds like fun. I think I would like to be a Half Fanatic.

My training to be a Half Fanatic hasn't started well this year. It seemed like I was picking up successive coughs and colds from my grandkids all winter. I would run for a few weeks then have two weeks off and have to go back to square one again. But now I'm focused on building up my distance week by week to be ready to run a half marathon later this summer. One of my sons has even sorta kinda promised to follow the same program.

After that, the sky is the limit. Maybe I can squeeze in those 6 half marathons in 6 states in the last 6 months of the year? I think that would qualify me as a Uranus level Half Fanatic. Woo hoo!

Of course I'm behind the trend again. According to this report the half-marathon has been the fastest growing road race distance in the United States since 2003. Damn. I'm already 8 years behind the times. Again. What's new?

I wonder how many more years I should wait before I get a smart phone?

12 comments:

O Docker said...

What makes the Fanatics group work is their tee shirt.

To succeed, you'll need a good tee shirt that proudly proclaims your new passion:

I Love Uranus

Tillerman said...

I knew this post was a bad idea.

Baydog said...

But knowing Tillerman, he probably puts the accent on the first syllable?

Tillerman said...

Is there any other way?

Mojo said...

Agree with Tillerman, Baydog, it's not Mianus...

(... a local CT river with which BD is familiar)

Baydog said...

Let's leave your butt out of this, Mojo.

I am very familiar with the river, as well as the infamous bridge fail. There it is again!

Bursledon Blogger said...

If smart phone are so "Smart" how come I still have to make the calls?

this comment brought to you by "Behind the Curve "

Pandabonium said...

Compared to me, Tillerman, you are cutting edge. I almost don't use any kind of telephone at all.

I'm not into half measures like Half Fanatics. I'm into Slow Life - slow bicycling, slow sailing, slow eating, slow ..um.. intimacy...

"Modern" life has it all backward, rushing about so fast that we don't even remember where we've been or what we've been doing most of the time.

That doesn't mean we can't be fit or proficient, just that it doesn't require embracing everything that is "new and improved" and rather to more fully experience what we do.

We don't need to go to Uranus to do that.

Tillerman said...

I have a lot of sympathy with that point of view Panda. My running is indeed exceedingly slow.

And when I started this blog the subtitle was not "Cheat the nursing home. Die on your Laser." It was "Sail fast. Live slow."

Then way back in 2006 I wrote a post about Living Slow and the slow living movement.

Tillerman said...

Bursledon Blogger - you still have to make the calls yourself on a smart phone? I didn't know that.

I did notice that when I was sitting in a waiting room yesterday the lady next to me got a text message on her phone. She looked at it and said, "My car just called me."

I wonder what it said? Change my oil? You left the lights on? I feel a little flat?

Doc Häagen-Dazs said...

What Panda said.....

Carol Anne said...

Just be sure your car has unlimited minutes/texts on its plan.

If my new car gets in a crash, it's supposed to shut off the engine, turn on the hazard flashers, unlock the doors, and phone emergency services. Maybe I should have named it Lassie rather than Galileo.

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