Better run run run, run run run away...

My friend C.G. invited me to a LitQuake event this weekend - A.B. had e-vited me earlier, but I wasn't sure I felt like pretending to be up on San Francisco literati. When C.G. offered to drive, I was sold. Funny thing about the Mission - it seems like a vibrant, interesting, fun place to hang out, but there's no convenient way to get there from where I live. The bus would take about 45 minutes - and that doesn't count time spent waiting for said bus. Parking is not readily available either in the Mission or my OWN neighborhood, which means a struggle to find a space going both ways. And cab fare is roughly $12 each way, meaning a financial commitment of $25 and that's BEFORE the drinking starts.

Anyway, on our way to Ritual Coffee Roasters to hear columnists from the SF Chronicle (where according to the suggested LitQuake drinking game I would take 2 sips for my Matt Gonzalez sighting - and possibly an additional 2 since I was actually introduced and we shook hands), we stopped to browse the used book bins at Dog-Eared Books. I stumbled across Marathon! by Jeff Galloway, for a mere $2.76. C.G. said she had a copy and had loaned it out, and that it was pretty well-written. I picked it up - to the dismay of the cashier, who didn't want to deal with me b/c another lit event was going on inside the store. I think he would've preferred it if I had stolen the book.

I met up with C.E. on Sunday to go for a hike, and mentioned the book to her. And that's when this whole concept changed from "thinking about" to "planning to do". Yup - I think I'm running a marathon. According to the plan laid out in Galloway's book, the weekly time commitment is low - 30 minutes a day, plus a long run on Sunday. I can do one long run a week, and something is seriously wrong if I can't carve out 30 minutes for exercise. Up until a year and a half ago, I was exercising at least an hour a day 5-6 days a week. This goal may be just what I need to get moving again - on a REGULAR basis. Which will be better for my health and my sanity. That, and my pants are too tight.