Turn Off, Tune Out, UnPlug (Pt. 2)

Those of you familiar with this space are already aware of my BlackBerry addiction.

I, myself, am almost never without mine. I believe there are some Christmas photos of me floating around on the Internet somewhere that show the device squarely placed on my hip.

With my family.

On vacation.

Christmas Day.

I know. Pitiful. But as we've already established, I hate being unplugged, because I can't risk missing anything. So, I'm fairly easy to reach when you want me.

Part of the danger of such easy accessibility is that I tend to shoot answers to emails without thinking.

A couple of months ago, our marketing director sent a mass email: "WTOP is a sponsor of the Marine Corps Marathon. We have free registration for six people. Anyone want to sign up?"

I got this email on my PinkBerry while I was conducting an interview for the Daily Debrief. So, without thinking (and still recovering from the vicious cold I had the week before) I typed two fateful words.

"I'm in."

Blame it on the DayQuil. Blame it on distraction. Blame it on hubris.

I blame my PinkBerry.

Therein lies the danger of replying to such an email without thinking it through. Portable, electronic, immediate communication makes it way too easy to do that. Which is, of course, precisely what I did.

So. Just like that. A few little clicks, and I signed up for the Marine Corps Marathon.

Just to be clear, that's 26.2 miles. Twenty-six and two tenths miles.

I've run it before. It took me nearly six hours in a body that was eight years younger. My right knee was never the same after 2001's training and race. As I crossed the finish line in October 2001, I wept and laughed and grabbed the nearest Marine, crying, "I never have to do this again! Never! BWAH HAHAHAHAHAA!"

Then I ate a banana.

This time is different. I'm older. I haven't been training. But I can't back out because I don't quit. Ever. So I gotta do it. I'm going to do it. I'll do it. Yes. I'm going to do it. Right?

Not only that, my colleague Julia Ziegler is now keeping track of my training for her blog. There's even a video of myself and fellow anchor Tom Temin talking about our (very different) running techniques.

So now this is for real. It is on. All because of two little words thumbed into my PinkBerry without thinking.

"I'm in."

So training is underway, and is accelerated. And yanno what? When I'm running, the PinkBerry stays home.

Without the e-distraction, I can compose columns (like this one) in my head. I come up with ideas for stories, series, news coverage. I contemplate deeper meanings behind seemingly innocuous comments from colleagues and friends. (That's actually a bad idea. Not recommended.) I recite lyrics from favorite songs. I make up new lyrics to favorite songs. I do math. I put my feet on autopilot and my brain into overdrive.

I ponder as I listen to my own breathing, and I unplug - truly and completely unplug.

It is the one time I can disconnect without guilt or fear. I can't text, talk, email while running. I have to focus on the road ahead. I have to breathe. I have to tackle those hateful hills.

Considering being "plugged in" is what put me back on the running trail in the first place, that seems a bit poetic. Being connected got me into this, but the training is helping me - finally - disconnect, if only for a few hours at a time.

Irony can be delicious. In this case it can be exhausting and a little crampy.

But this is the nation's capital after all. Which means where there are people, there are runners, bikers, and BlackBerrys. Sometimes, all at once.

Case in point: I was unplugged, taking on a hill, feet stomping pavement, breathing in/out, in/out; when I saw a fellow runner coming from the other direction.

He was holding something to his ear.

Holy cow. He was talking on his BlackBerry while running!

There's hope for me yet.

Even I'm not that addicted.

Amy Morris is an Executive Editor and Anchor of the Daily Debrief. You can reach her at amorris@federalnewsradio.com