I'm Thankful for Sore Legs, Arms, and Abs

Mine is not a family known for its athletic restraint. Training for our first marathon together (my dad's fifth overall), both my dad and I got stress fractures, a notorious overuse injury. Around that same time, my uncle did a 24-hour bike ride in Moab, then decided to drive home. After falling asleep at the wheel, he flipped the car and walked out unscathed. My dad, two uncles, and aunt realized they needed some bonding time. So they chose white-water rafting and camping for several days. My aunt and uncle in Colorado have an entire garage devoted to mountain bikes and telemark skis. Like I said, we're not familiar with restraint.

So it shouldn't have surprised me that over Thanksgiving weekend, my training schedule more closely resembled the daily activities of an entire summer camp than one person's weekend agenda:

Thursday, 8am: 1 hour 10 minutes trail running with dad in NJ
Friday, 7:45am: 50 minutes trail running with dad in NJ
Saturday: 45-minute run, one-hour Pilates reformer, 2 hours/9 holes golf at Jon's parents' gated community in Florida (aka summer camp for adults)
Sunday: 1 hour tennis practice with ball machine, 50 laps in outdoor pool in FL

This was followed by a 2-hour trail run at Bear Mountain on Tuesday and a 5.5-miler with running buddy Sari on Wednesday. Yeesh.

Given my lack of ability to restrain myself athletically, I've decided to attempt to master a new kind of restraint: quitting candy cold turkey. At least for a few days. As of lunchtime, day #4, I'm happy to report that with one minor slip into the chocolatey carress of a Hershey Kiss, I've shown remarkable control. As someone who frequently wears a cookie monster t-shirt for the sole purpose of stealing cookies from others, this is a HUGE achievement for me.

Now if you'll excuse me, there's a candy bar wrapper in my drawer I have to lick.

Why the Blog?

"Why keep a blog about your training," you ask. "Don't you already talk about it enough?"

True, I do (and your snarkiness is noted), but as a former journalist, I'm significantly funnier and wittier on paper (or computer screen, as the case may be).

As I go through the process of training for a triathlon with Team In Training, I'll be updating this space with anecdotes about the workouts and using fancy terms like "drills" and "BRick workouts" and "flat tires." I will also help you keep tabs on my fundraising efforts, so you know exactly when to reach a little deeper into those pockets to help me reach my goal.

This is the place where you'll find out about upcoming fundraising events, and see pictures from the ones you couldn't make (or find yourself looking all drunk and silly in the ones you did attend).

I will also be updating you regularly on our Honored Teammates (survivors and those undergoing treatment who are training alongside us or inspiring us to train). For starters, there's my own personal honoree, my brother Jeremy, who you can read about on my fundraising page (http://pages.teamintraining.org/nyc/wildtri10/arashbaum) (see how I did that? linking you back to the fundraising page? Genius).

I hope you'll join me in my primary goal of raising $10,000 for blood cancer research and my secondary goal of not passing out on the side of the road somewhere in Monterey, California during my race, or coming out of the water looking like this:




Thank you for taking this journey with me!