Sunday, October 14, 2007

The Team


We woke up yesterday morning to the sound of screaming. Possibilities raced through my mind. Political protest? Horrible car accident? The rapture? I stumbled into the living room and laid out on the floor (my back has been killing me since I literally spent five hour crammed in a closet-sized space,hunched over a fried DLP light engine, with two other techies) and waited for Mandy. She came into the room and gave me a few stretching suggestions while the tone and ferocity of the screaming rose a few decibels. As I stretched my horribly out-of-shape body, Mandy looked out the window and yelled, "It's a race! There are supporters on the corners cheering the runners on!" I groaned and got up to look out the window at all of the runners. There they were, hundreds of racers plowing through the cool October drizzle, cheering and having, what seemed to be, a good time.

Later, as breakfast was prepared, the conversation kept coming around to running and wanting to get back in shape again (mostly me). And not some flabby shape, a nice, taut, visually pleasing shape. An idea is starting to form. It's very nebulous right now, but I hope it will coalesce into something concrete by, oh, around next May.

So, here's the idea. We're looking for feedback, ideas, and participants. Please comment, email, or call.

We'd like to get a group of people interesting in running (not walking) the Riverbank Run in Grand Rapids May '08. We want to create a team name, t-shirts, running support, playlist ideas, etc. The trick to doing this is to get other people interested and training. The other thing Mandy and I need is a liaison in Grand Rapids, or at least closer than an 18 hour drive, who can coordinate efforts there. Let us know soon.

If I'm going to run, anyone can do it. A couple years back I went from not being able to to run a mile, to running two 5Ks with respectable times. We have six months to get prepared. If that's enough time for people to recover from massive back injuries, it should be enough for us. We need ideas for a team name, t-shirt designs, playlist ideas, where and how to hold the necessary after race gathering, etc.

The sooner we get started the better prepared we will be. We still plan on being back in GR around Thanksgiving time, and hopefully we can plan an hour or two to meet with those of you who would like to join in on the fun!

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Count me in.

Possible team names...

Operation Chad is Awesome
Faster than dead cheetahs
or The Dirty Gritty Mollusks

I listen to Podrunner - a podcast found on Itunes to get the body movin... body movin...

Peace and love from good ol' GR.

Anonymous said...

Do you want to have the meeting before or after we eat pounds of turkey and stuff?
I might be in.........

Anonymous said...

snails,Inc

Anonymous said...

wow, you must feel really good, you have a lot of anonymous friends.... ;-) I need to speak to the OB but I would love to run too. If there are no other takers, i would love to help champion the cause back home. count me in! mark would love to help design if you would be so interested in his gifts to the cause. running is good
and to quote a great movie
"i have an idea...an idea forming in my head"
"well, at least there is something in his head, could be the first time"

Anonymous said...

Do they have a "powered wheelchair"
division?

Matt said...

This is great! Responses rock! We'll post a follow-up email this weekend.

Anonymous said...

I probably should start with a trainer now.

Maybe...........

Anonymous said...

Who else is out there?

Is anyone up for a run?

Are you reading this?

Say something.............