 Bilkent Sports Director Hayri Özkan has not urged me to write this second article about my running project. But I feel certain he would have urged me if I had urged him to urge me, and so…
On Sunday, April 4, I was down near the south coast participating in the 6th annual Tarsus International Half Marathon (6. Uluslararası Tarsus Yarı Maratonu). I don't know if I happened to run over or across the long buried remains of the ancient road to Damascus; I do know that I did not have a life-transforming confrontation with God, of the sort that converted Christian-persecutor Saul of Tarsus into the apostle Paul (on that ancient road to Damascus that I may or may not almost have touched). I did, however, fulfill my secret ambition of completing the half marathon in under two hours; indeed, my time was 1:55:48. Was I pleased? Yes, I was pleased.
But wait a moment - did I not challenge/invite Bilkenters to undertake, with me, the Golden Horn Half Marathon in İstanbul? So, what's this talk about Tarsus and all the heady possibilities suggested by the supposed proximity of an ancient road to Damascus? Well, this is a "running project"; that is to say, it is on-going, it evolves.
Problem that was to be solved: I like racing, which is nervy and exciting, but I don't like training, which can be quite ho-hum dull and rather too much like working for a living. My training schedule for the İstanbul race requires, in addition to three or four shorter sessions, one long run per week, each Sunday. On Sunday, April 4, I was scheduled to do 18 K - just ho-hum training. But then, on the Marathon Turk web site (www.maratonturk.com), I learned of the Tarsus half marathon, and - Bingo! - an inspired and inspiring idea: why not skip-and-prance through a fun and exciting 21.1 K rather than slogging through an 18 K training session?
Now, if you are still reading this, but your thoughts are, "Well, okay, fine, but I don't much like running, and I'm not much interested in racing," then I have a concluding pair of words for you: weight loss. Yes, weight loss, or kilo-giving, if you prefer the local concept (and it is, I suppose, better to give than to lose). There is nothing like running for kilo-giving. About 10 weeks ago I began a fairly modest running program to prepare for the 10 K race at Runtalya. Since setting my sights on the half-marathon distance, obviously I have had to intensify my training. But here's the point: 10 weeks ago I weighed 83 or 84 kilos; as of this morning (Thursday, April 8) I weigh 75.5.
But am I not dieting as well? No sirree-bob! I've never quite grasped how you are supposed to continue to enjoy life when you can't eat what you want. And I have a life-long attachment to potato chips, and a more recently acquired fetish for chocolate. (I also eat healthy food, but you see my point, yes?) Well then, am I not drinking less wine? Yok canım! (The same enjoyment-of-life argument applies here.) Once again, I give away kilos by running. Come see me during any long Sunday training session (ho-hum), and I'll give you as many as you want.
And thinly, thinly but oh-so-eagerly will I go to güzel İstanbul for the Golden Horn Half Marathon (Haliç Yarı Maratonu), Sunday, April 25 - start time: 9 a.m.
By Assoc. Prof. Don Randall
randall@bilkent.edu.tr
|
