I have been inspired by Beau Miles, a creative, handy, and articulate running aficionado who released the video “A Mile an Hour” over a year and a half ago. Of course, I’m not nearly as handy with a toolkit and raw lumber as Beau, nor do I enjoy long runs. I was a distance runner in high school and I hated it, and have found much more peace in putting my energy into Shotokan karate and the full-contact sport of quidditch. But I have long recognized the need to enhance my cardiovascular health (especially since my mom’s family has a history of health problems, and I myself live with asthma) and I have also long found working with my hands to be deeply rewarding. Unfortunately the creative processes I enjoy often take more energy than I have to spare after a long day at work, and require preparation I’m not always willing to go through.
Beau’s “different kind of marathon” has inspired me to work towards completing my own marathons. However, just as actual marathon runners train for marathons rather than simply getting off the couch and trying them, so shall I prepare, with this website as a record of my journey.
The marathon I want to complete has the following parameters:
- A run completed every hour (preferably in 1-mile increments)
- Active, creative work completed between the runs
- At least 2/3rds of the creative works should be physical work with the hands, such as sewing, painting, quidditch equipment construction, and experimental cooking/baking
- Some may be computer based so long as they are creative works such as video editing, photoshop work on art, creative writing, and web design
- Training up means that the preparation in advance should be selecting and designing the works, as well as completing walks and runs that help stretch the ol’ lungs
A “quarter marathon” would be 7 miles run in 6 hours with at least 6 different projects prepared (not necessarily completed or worked on evenly). A “half marathon” would be 13 miles run in 12 hours with at least 12 different projects prepared. The eventual goal of completing a “full marathon” would be 26 miles in 24 hours with at least 24 projects prepared. I’m not entirely convinced I’ll ever do a full marathon because I’m not quiiiiite as crazy as Beau, but I’m exactly the kind of person who could probably work up to it eventually because I am still pretty crazy.
Even a quarter marathon requires intense preparation, including running, selecting projects, purchasing materials, and selecting an ideal date. Originally I wanted to do my first quarter marathon over the holiday break but instead I got really sick with mononucleosis and then got re-sick while visiting my parents in California, so that didn’t happen. Luckily I still have the plans!
This website has updates, which are just stream of consciousness posts of things I’m working on and thoughts on setting dates for marathons. This website also has records of the marathons I will have run (obv. haven’t run any yet) and categories of projects. It’s a bit under construction still. My original idea was to have the web design of this website as one of the projects for the first marathon, but that sadly was not to be.
Mind, body, spirit, all have to be trained as a lifelong project, and the intensity of that activity has to be ramped up as we age since they all begin to break down. This is a way to have clear, targeted, but also flexible goals that can help foster my desire to remain creative, active, and physically and mentally agile as I age.
Wish me luck!