Not in the club.

If you’ve never driven a Mini Cooper, a motorcycle or (in England) a pre 1985 Land Rover, I suggest you do so. You’ll suddenly find people nodding their heads, flashing their lights and honking their horn at you in a bizarre form of camaraderie. You didn’t do anything special, no real effort was needed, but you are welcomed into a club of like-minded enthusiasts. I hoped that running would be the same.

I’ve been running during my lunch hour in the Huntingdon Valley suburbs, along the New Jersey Boardwalk, along Kelly Drive, and have now crossed paths with many doing the same thing. I think that I have demonstrated a willingness to cross the threshold and enter this world; I have my fancy shoes, particularly short shorts, and a shirt of the lightest and most breathable materials made by man. I am clearly taking this seriously, or at least trying to, but not a nod, wink, raised hand or slight acknowledgement from a single one of my running brethren. I’m disappointed and it makes me dislike runners a little more than I did before I joined the team. I understand that people are in their ‘zone’, but in my opinion it’s just a little bit rude. I’m interested to see if my opinion has changed by the end of the project, but in case you see a wheezy 6 ft Englishman running towards you on Kelly drive, nodding and waving as if possessed by a demon, please do not be alarmed, just nod or wave back.

ADDENDUM: I mentioned this to Dani, who informed me that six or seven people nodded or smiled at her as she ran along Kelly Drive on Saturday. Feeling that the running fraternity was anti-social and ignorant was one thing, but to know it is also sexist and a little bit pervy makes it worse.

Technology.

It seems that everyone is adopting technological aides to help them train. I noticed that Joe and Tom were both sporting fancy GPS enabled watches this weekend that tell them how far they’ve run and what they had for dinner. Knowing how far I’ve run will be quickly translated by the cognitive gremlins in my head into how far I still have to go. As such, I shall be giving the collaboration between Nike and Apple a trial. I have the chip inside the sole of my shoe, I just need to get the iPod to make it work. Apparently, of the four iPods in our house, zero are compatible with the Nike+ software that needs to be installed. I like the idea of the PowerSong feature that can give me “Eye of the Tiger” by Survivor instantly at any time I need extra motivation.

Extra Motivation?

Eddie Izzard is one of my favorite comedians. For those who don’t know him I would definitely recommend adding one of his live shows to your Netflix queue. Apparently he’s a novice runner that decided to run around the UK and Ireland to raise money and awareness for charity. His blog is here. Apparently he’s averaging a Marathon a day! I’m not sure what the attraction of journeying around the edge of small European countries is, but I wonder if he read the book about that crazy American who played golf around Ireland?