I Am Not A Runner...

...I never have been.  I've never been very athletic in general.  In my 2 years playing basketball in middle school, I made one shot.  The crowd roared... I clearly remember the coach cheering, "YEAH, Whit!!".  Most people would think I had a really supportive audience.  And I did... but the real reason they were screaming so loud is because I was lousy, didn't have any confidence, and nobody (including myself) thought I was going to make that basket.  Then came softball in high school.  I (barely) made the JV team, and when I wasn't missing the pop fly's in right field, I was warming the bench.  The only 'sport' I committed to did well in, was Cheerleading.  I spent years defending the fact that Cheerleading was in fact a sport... although most maintained that it wasn't. It was a great way to get exercise, and we did compete (and win!)... but it isn't a sport in the way that soccer or football or baseball is a sport.  I sit here, reluctantly admitting defeat.

That's why I'm terrified that I just signed up to run a half-marathon.  Terrified, exhilarated, optimistic, I'm feeling it all.  I've never run more than two straight miles without stopping... so tackling 13.1 on May 31st will most certainly be one of the biggest achievements of my life.  So will raising the $2,900 for blood cancer research.  

To donate to my campaign and help find a cure for blood cancers, please visit http://pages.teamintraining.org/sf/rnr09/whoover 

And of course I'll be posting updates as I train for the big day.  Stay tuned....

The Birth of Blogger # 300,000,001

Apparently, I'm jumping on a bandwagon.  What I thought was a form of communication embraced mostly by Generation Y is apparently far more popular than I had originally gathered.  There are, in total, about 300 million blogs out there, though only 100 million plus are considered currently active... (insert *GASP* here).  In essence, there are almost exactly as many blogs as there are US citizens, and roughly 18,488 times as many blogs as there are Starbucks locations worldwide.  That's a lot of blogging.  

I love communication.  I should, I majored in it.  I love talking, texting, emailing, IMing, calling, and visiting.  If you know me, you are more than well aware that I'm a talker.  There's no getting around it.  When faced with a predicament, I'm not the type to bottle up my thoughts and emotions.  I'm more of a volcano, letting every thought and feeling erupt in an effort to better understand the problem at hand as well as the best way to tackle it.  (Note:  If you're a close friend, insert a HUGE thank you here for putting up with me in said times of crises).

Non-verbal communication can be just as enjoyable.  Admit it:  there are few things as fun as eye-flirting with that good-looking so-and-so across the room.  Holding hands, smiling, hugging, winking... I'm a fan of them all.  But of all forms of communication, I find writing to be by far the most enjoyable, and certainly the most stimulating.  The funny thing is, I'm not even that great at it.  I'm good, but nothing to write home about it (Ha, no pun intended...).  But, there is something about being able to sit back and think about what you're going to say before you actually say it.  Unlike with verbal communication, writing gives you all of the time in the world to properly articulate what it is that you're trying to express.

But blogging?  No.  No way.  I've always silently laughed at my friends who have them. Not in the mean "Ha-Ha!" way, but in the "How-do-you-even-find-the-time-for-that?" and "Do-people-really-care-about-everything-you-have-to-say?" ways.  Yet here I sit, writing my first (of what I can only imagine will be many) entries in my very first blog.  In the end, I'm not doing it for any reason other than to feed my hunger for writing.  And, hopefully, it will offer you a chuckle or two and give you an excuse to take that mental 10 minute vacation you need after hitting that brick wall at work.  

So I guess that's it.  I'm officially a Blogger.  Here goes nothing...