Does that put the fear of God in you, Gerry?

I've been listening to too much radio, with the ad for GiftGrub where Mario whatshishead is ripping off Ben "Does that put the fear of God in you, Jackie Skelly?" Dunne. Anyway, it seemed like an apt opening line.

Gerry has decided that he is going to become the guardian of the physical health of the old Shantallians. He is trying to shame us all into getting into shape to run the Dublin marathon in 2009 and is dangling a crazy money fund before our greedy little eyes as some form of Carrickmacross-carrot.

There are a few problems with his crack-pot scheme. One is that Amo has been involved in athletics for years, is really fit and has already done the marathon (in 3 hours 45 minutes or something equally incredible), so she's pretty much guaranteed the prize, or at least the major share of it. James (aka Jim) is too busy playing happy families and walking the dog. According to Gerry though, James is wavering. Gerry thinks he can get him on board. Another problem is that my husband (or wuss-band as I must now call him, apparently) isn't really interested in engaging with the whole process. The boys may be calling him yellow, but he stands by his woeful tale of shinsplints. Ow.

Suzanne has agreed to participate. So has Amo, but then of course she would, seeing as she's most likely to win. Gerry's got to because it was all his crazy idea. And I'm in. But I've got a sneaky plan.

I'm going to do the marathon in 2008. Ha! Training is in full swing. My first test will be in April when I do the half-marathon in Connemara. I'm reliably informed that it's a demon. The last three miles are all uphill. I figure that if I can manage that, I'll be good for the full jobbie in October.

I'm up to 12.5km, 3 times a week. This week, I'm going to bring it up to 15km, which is three-quarters of the distance of a half-marathon.