Even if you hate running you can be convinced to join Dream Team marathon training
Over the past few years I have made a conscious effort to be a more positive and less agitated person. Thanks to my supportive friends and family, a lot of sweat-inducing spin classes and a healthy dose of Zoloft, I have accomplished this. For the most part.
Now, that’s not to say that I have become a zen master. There are still small things that I just hate. The top five are Patchouli oil, the song “Dust in the Wind,” sushi burritos, people who talk in the movie theater and running.
I detest running. I’ve tried to like it because at my core I’m a masochist. I’ve even run (trudged) a marathon. As soon as I crossed the finish line, I swore that I was hanging up my running shoes forever.
Then I met Erin Santos. After I heard her powerful speech about losing her daughter, Isabella, to Neuroblastoma, a rare childhood cancer, at the Isabella Santos Foundation’s Coffee for a Cure event, I knew that I wanted to write about her. So, I emailed her and we met for coffee.
By all accounts, Erin is a wide-open force of nature, with a dry and slightly dirty sense of humor. I suspect that she may also be a high priestess of black magic because before we were halfway through our lattes, I heard a voice that sounded remarkably like mine agreeing to train and run a half-marathon as part of the Isabella Santos Foundation Dream Team.
When Erin started talking about me joining the Dream Team, I tried some charming excuses and then I went for the self-deprecating humor, but she didn’t flinch.
She cocked her eyebrow, looked me straight in the eye and said, “You know that this is bullshit, right? There is no reason that someone who has run a marathon can’t join a team with a great trainer and a detailed plan and run a half-marathon. Take action.”
Then she wryly added, “It’s for the children, after all.”
A grin pulled the sides of her mouth up because she knew that she had me. I grinned back because I had been had and I loved her for it. At that moment, I would have joined a fire-eating team had she asked me.
Erin added, perhaps as a peace offering, that she didn’t really consider herself a runner until after her daughter’s death. She found that running gave her dedicated time to think about Isabella.
She said, “I’m always amazed at how the thought of her becomes so motivating to me when I’m struggling in a run. I think that has become true to everyone on the team.”
With that, I went home and ordered a new pair of Brooks, I bought a new stick of Body Glide and I am writing this very public declaration that holds me accountable for getting up early on Saturdays to sweat out Friday night’s Tito’s and Cabernet with a bunch of people who are undoubtedly going to leave me eating their dust in the wind.
Surely, if I can do this, so can you. Learn more about Isabella’s Dream Team here.
Isabella’s Dream Team is an endurance running program that raises money for the Isabella Santos Foundation (ISF) while training for half and full marathons. ISF benefits hospitals that research Neuroblastoma and charities that directly impact children with cancer and their families.
The Dream Team runs all around the Charlotte area. The runners meet up for socials each month, as well as weekday short runs, and a long run every Saturday morning from March to November. Each team member must pledge to raise $500. You can set up your FirstGiving page here.
The 2017 Dream Team starts training in July. Runners can train for a marathon or a half marathon and then individually choose a November 2017 marathon to run between Charlotte, Nashville or Savannah.
Here’s to satisfying my masochistic tendencies, taking action and not hating it.
Photos: Jon Cox Photography/Charlotte Observer Files, Erin Santos
This story was originally published May 1, 2017 at 9:00 PM with the headline "Even if you hate running you can be convinced to join Dream Team marathon training."