I’ve been thinking a lot about falling lately.
- Runner: Mary Chervenak
- Birthplace: Anderson, South Carolina, United States
- Currently Resides: Winston-Salem, North Carolina, United States
- Language(s): English
- Family: Husband Paul Jones
- Statement: "Just because I’m privileged to a life with clean drinking water doesn’t mean that I can take this priceless resource for granted.” – Mary Chervenak, 2007
I don’t pick up my feet when I run. I call my stride “efficient”. Other people call it “old man shuffle”. In any case, I don’t pick up my feet and I tend to trip and fall down occasionally. Okay – I fall down a lot.
My most spectacular fall occurred when I was seven, or maybe eight. I was riding my purple Schwinn with the banana seat and the basket, wearing my brand new, ultra-hip, black and white checked bell bottom polyester pants. The pants got balled up in the chain in about three seconds and I pulled the bike over on top of myself, getting trapped underneath. In order to escape, I had to wriggle out of my pants. I ended up pushing the bike home wearing nothing but my T-shirt and my underwear, with the pants dragging along behind me, trailing from chain, greasy and horrible. My mom, catching sight of me from the kitchen window, said “who is that poor naked child?” before realizing that the poor naked child was me.
I’ve been thinking a lot about falling lately.
I’m leaving and leaving soon. I’m about to leap, to fall into the biggest, most terrifying, most exciting adventure of my life. I really hope my pants don’t get caught in my chain.
September 10
“We've done the impossible and that makes us mighty.” -- Malcolm Reynolds
Team Chervenak!
The Elmira, New York leg of the Blue Planet Run was, for obvious reasons, the most sought after.
August 18
Since running through Los Angeles and Las Vegas, I am feeling divinely beautiful, entitled, gossipy, slightly famous (okay, actually, showered and mostly clean)...distinctly Hollywood.
August 9
“Although happiness is desirable, it is a banal subject for travel.” -- Paul Theroux, Dark Star Safari
August 4
I won't close my eyes. I won't sleep. I refuse. Must not sleep. Must not sleep. Don't sleep. Don'tsleep. Don'tsleepdon'tsleepdon'tsleepdon'tsleepdon'tsleepdon'tsleep....
July 23
I have abandoned the rush of Russia for the timelessness of Mongolia. The slower pace, the gentle language, and the quiet, traffic-free roads are a welcome change.
July 19
Until recently, I never thought much about Jell-O. Now, I think about it all the time. It's kind of a silly food, don't you think?
9 July 2007
New shift.
First Jason and Taeko run, followed by Lansing, who hands off the baton to Mary, which gets passed to Laura.
Russia is big
Russia is big. Really big. I mean really, really big. Distressingly, ridiculously, impossibly big.