Home > Lawrenceville.Talk > Archives > 2006 > June > 27
Tuesday, June 27, 2006
I’m a couch potato with a Peachtree number
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
MARTA’s Doraville train station is about to be packed with Gwinnettians.
I’m a Peachtree Road Race repeater, so I know all about those Fourth of July NASCAR laps through each level of the parking deck until you speed into one measly MARTA parking spot.
Usually I’m hyped about:
Getting to Doraville Station early on the Fourth. Getting a seat on the train instead of standing up. Getting in months of long runs before the race, drinking a gallon of water a day, eating leafy green vegetables, and swallowing assorted protein supplements.
Not this year.
This year I’m just a couch potato with a number.
My meals consist of sugar, salt, fried foods and microwaveable products. My water supply comes from whatever percentage is in Diet Coke. My vegetable source these days is the lettuce stuffed inside a Taco Bell chalupa. Months and months of long training runs? Not on your life.
I’ve been overloaded with work stuff and family stuff and overstuffed with pizzas so I was left too tired to run around my Lawrenceville neighborhood this year.
Still, next week when I arrive at the Doraville station will all the other Gwinnett Peachtree Road Race runners, I’ll wish I had trained to run the full 6.2 miles instead of being a couch potato who will mostly be walking the race.
I’ll wish I had trained hard enough to be worthy of those $75 Nike running ensembles made of patented breathable fabric specially formulated to control sweating so I’ll look fresh for the race finish line photo ops.
I’ll wish I had spent weeks running up and down the back roads of Gwinnett County or through one of our many paved trails boastfully described on the web site of Gwinnett County Parks and Recreation.
I’ll wish my exercise routine had not involved just walking from my front door to my mailbox. Or walking around the Mall of Georgia from one end of the food court (buying a slice of pizza at Sbarro’s) to the other end (where I pick up a lovely scoop of Dippin’ Dots).
I’ll wish all this because after years of being placed in Time Group 9 at the tail end of the race lineup, three weeks ago a Time Group 3 number magically appeared in my mailbox.
Imagine that. The first year I don’t train is the year I end up right behind the Nike-clad seeded and sub-seeded runners who’ll have finished the race long before I’ve collapsed in front of Piedmont Hospital.
Talk about a couch potato doubled over the sofa in shock.
Are you hyped about running 6.2 miles down Peachtree Road or are you not leaving the comforts of your couch?
Permalink | Comments (22) | Post your comment | Categories: Jacqueline Bullard
