Autism: Oh Yeah ... She's a Goner

I remember when, I remember, I remember when I lost my mind
There was something so pleasant about that place.
~Gnarls Barkley

I stepped out of my front door this morning into the bright New England sunshine, heading out for a ten-miler.

Don’t be overly impressed. I haven’t covered ten miles on a run since 2006.

Nevertheless, I made it without too much pain, although it was pouring a cold steady rain by the time I got back home. I’m not what you would consider a real runner. I pop gummy bears instead of Power Gels. I take walk breaks via the Galloway method. I’ve been completely smoked by women twice my age in various long distance events.

No worries. It’s all good.

Someone has to finish last, right?

Why, you might be asking yourself, is this forty-one year old housewife going out for a ten-mile run? And what does it have to do with autism. Isn’t that what this blog is supposed to be all about?

Well, I did something really stupid I’m afraid. I went and signed up to run the mother of all marathons:

Boston

It’s not that Boston was really in my plans. Boston has always seemed like an impossibility to me. You have to actually qualify to run Boston.

But then the president of Jack’s school mentioned … ahem… that they had some numbers for the race. (Boston allows certain charity runners to participate without qualifying.) Nashoba had just one number left and really, really, really needed someone to run on their behalf.

Dammit. I couldn’t tell this woman, my inspiration, my hero, no.

So I called Andy at work and told him to be extra nice to me the next 11 weeks. And I forged out a haphazard training plan. The goal is to push myself just hard enough without inflicting injury. I’m aiming high. My hope is to finish in under the 6 hour mark when they officially close the course. I may crawl over the finish line, but I’ll be doing it for something I truly believe in.

And, of course, I’ll keep you up to date here on the Autismville blog. Every week I plan to post some sort of lame analogy related to autism and running.

Tune in next Sunday for the first of the series:

Autism and Running the Boston Marathon: Never, Ever Swallow the Snot.

Now please excuse me. I've got some Aleve to pop...

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