Tuesday, February 16, 2010

internal teenage squeee!

Today, I got something in the mail that made my internal teenager squeal with delight. An autographed 8x10 photograph of
Tony Hawk
. Professional Skateboarder, in case the name doesn't mean anything to you. Some people may dismiss skateboarding; it's certainly not a traditional sport, and somehow its appeal to 'tween and teen boys doesn't help its mainstream image. But I've had a long-standing thing for TH. and skateboarding, and frankly, skateboarders are intense athletes.

The Tony Hawk Foundation has helped build skateparks in low-income communities across the country. *Helped* build. One of their requirements for granting funds is that it be a community initiative. Their mission statement is worth reading.

In early January, I stumbled upon a link to www.skatewatts.org -- a fundraising effort to build a skatepark in Watts. The Tony Hawk Foundation was matching donations, and I threw a few dollars their way. (I also threw a lot of money towards more pressing social causes, but that's beside the point).

Today, I came home and found an unexpected thank-you gift in the mail. So I'm grinning.

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And yet, I still haven't answered 21c.mom's question from the comment on the last post.

Due to circumstances not worth explaining to my limited portion of the blogosphere, I ended up running my first "official" 5K (as an adult; I ran some as a kid) on about 2 hours of sleep. I still met my original goals, but not my revised (more ambitious) goal. And frankly, I could have pushed harder. So I'm a) generally pleased about the whole experience and will do it again, and b) completely irked with myself for not having pushed it just a bit harder. Next time. And I'm already looking at 10Ks for the not-too-distant future.

I gave myself the week following the 5K off from running. I donated blood, did pilates, took long walks with friends, and realized yet again that trapeze is easier when your legs aren't leaden.

Last night's 2-mile return to running might have been a little easier had I not hiked 6 fairly strenuous miles on Valentine's Day and then walked 6 miles before running the following day. But it felt good, regardless.

Now, off to do something more productive, or at least more physical, than sitting here *writing* about running.