Thursday, August 28, 2008
JeansMarines is a group of Canadian women (and a few good men) who dare ourselves to do the impossible – train to run or walk a marathon, and to finish it upright and smiling, no matter how fearful, reluctant or out of shape we were when we began.
Maybe like you are right now.
In the process, we have a huge amount of fun. We get fit. We make friends. Reach a mighty goal, and change in ways we never thought possible. Now in our fifth year, we have helped train hundreds of women to do the storied distance of 26.2 miles (42 km).
Many of them viewed the marathon as a goal, but discovered that it had become a means to an even bigger transformation. Here are some of their testimonials.
There are fast JeansMarines, including women who’ve done a marathon before [some have even run the fastest marathon of them all in Boston]. There are slow JeansMarines, including women who’ve never exercised in their lives. There are younger JeansMarines (you should be 18 at least), older ones, and many midlife ones. Some JeansMarines decide to train for a half marathon (21 KM) in their first year and a full marathon the next. Or a 10 KM race their first year, followed by a half marathon. Or whatever. Some JeansMarines want to do a marathon close to home. Others want to do theirs in cities like Washington and Chicago, with tens of thousands of other racers. The point is, the choice is yours.