So the first dog says...

Dogs talk in New Yorker cartoons.

Like the pooch a few years back who told his canine colleague, “I used to have a blog, but now I’ve gone back to random barking.”

I’ve shied away from blogging all these years out of a sense that the world had all the random barking it needed. So why am I doing it now?

Mainly, I want to write about a big project I’ve taken on: I’ve signed up to run a half marathon on June 5, for the benefit of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, as part of LLS’s National Capital Area Team in Training.

That’s 13.1 miles, in and around downtown Annapolis. I want a place to whine, brag, navel-gaze, beg for contributions and be reassured that I either (a) am or (b) am not completely out of my mind.

I ran a 10K race on Thanksgiving Day 2009 but haven’t done much since. This is more than twice the distance. What’s more, I’m pushing 60 and by the time June 5 rolls around I’ll be dragging it behind me. Now, I happen to believe that old guys seasoned men are among society’s great unappreciated treasures. Think of all we aren’t: We are not impatient. We are not hypercompetitive. We are rarely violent. We are not vain.

Okay, we’re vain.

So this is what I’ve signed up for: The race on June 5 is the ZOOMA Annapolis Half Marathon. It’s part of what’s billed as a national series of “women’s races,” although they do admit, in fine print, that men are also welcome. The average age of participants is 32, and 73 percent are women.

So I’ll be out there huffing and puffing through a crowd that’s a whole lot younger, fitter and more female than me. Let’s see where the vanity meter stands when that’s over.

But this isn’t about vanity. Nor about living forever, though as they say, so far, so good. It’s about staying in shape, meeting people, taking on something I’m not at all sure I can do, and who knows? Maybe even making a small positive difference.

I’ll be using this blog to keep anyone who’s interested up to date on how it’s going. I may mix in some other stuff: Some work, some music, some books, some family history. Maybe even a talking dog.

Hope you like it enough to come back. Meanwhile, you can learn more and contribute here.