I’ve gone and joined a marathon training clinic and yesterday was the first of 16 sessions. It is my great hope that having weekly seminars to attend that are followed by a run, and feeling part of the clinic family will ensure that I don’t drop off from running in the middle of summer just because.

Celebrate-the-20s List aside, I’ve also wanted to run a marathon to set myself apart from the throngs of half-marathoners who are, incidentally, mostly women….

This goes way back to the days of hanging out with the boys and playing with our calculators in math and physics class while the girls were getting extra-help when learning matrix operations… to being one of four girls in a class of 120 first-year computer engineering students… to never grasping the principles of applying make-up or using spa-things… to separating myself from pure biochemmies by getting a second concentration in chemistry….

To complete the effect, I want to shed womanly curves and become a wiry runner!

‘Tis true that if a man wants to pick up (and if he doesn’t mind running), that he can do so in a run group where he is ordinarily outnumbered by women. However, amongst the groups in a run club, (full-)marathoners are more of a Boy’s Club. If you don’t believe it, check out the following registration numbers from the 2006 Vancouver marathon –

Half-marathon 2,375/4,348 (Women outnumber men 1.83:1.)
Marathon 2,021/1,565 (Men outnumber women 1.29:1.)