January 9, 2012 - It's Official!

Well I did it. I signed up for the Portland Marathon on October 9, 2012. I am officially out of my mind. Like certifiably crazy. Guess I have to actually go through with it now. Honestly though, I've always wanted to run a marathon. As far back as I can remember I thought it would be such an accomplishment to finish a marathon. I never really thought it was possible though, I just wasn't a runner anymore. After years of playing competitive soccer and surgeries on both kness I just figured I would have to find another way of working out. Then after I finished grad school I needed something else to obsess about, since I didn't have papers to obsess about anymore. I decided I wanted to try running again. It would be a good way for me to get back into shape and give me something to do with all this free time I had now! I found a training plan on Runners World that started with running 1 min, walking 1 min and repeating until after a little more than a month it worked up to running 30 min straight. I think anyone who's been a competitive athlete in their life, always kinds of views themselves in that light. That certainly was the case for me. It was very humbling knowing that I had to really start from the ground up. You don't realize how quickly you lose all that, or how other things become more important when they shouldn't be. A couple months after I had been running again I signed up to run in my first 5k. I was nervous and excited. My friend Mirranda ran the whole thing with me, encouraging me every step of the way. We won't mention the boyfriend at the time who said he would run with me for encouragement then ran way ahead of me the whole race because he wanted to run at his pace. Wait....oh shoot....did I say that out loud? Hmmm...oh well. That first 5k was in September 2009. In the two years since then I have run many more 5ks, 8ks, Hood to Coast, Cascade Lakes and four half marathons. Apparently I feel this makes me qualified to run a full friggin marathon. I'm partly doing this to prove to myself that I can. That I can get a goal and REALLY stick with it. Sure I set goals all the time, but not many that require such a long time commitment and dedication. I'm also doing this because I know I have amazing support from my friends and family. From Mirranda, who is mostly to blame for this by supporting me from the time I started running again to planting the marathon seed ever so softly in my ear. She's also my makeshift coach, and lets just say shes VERY excited anout me running this marathon. To my parents who will drive down to cheer me on. Although we have 9 months to work on them using the word "ambitious" less when referencing my marathon. To Dan, who was with me when we cheered on Mirranda at her marathon. He's already sent out a calendar request for my cheering section, and asked me where I want to eat afterwards (which even for a planner like me is a bit too early to think about). To Charisse who most likely will drive from Salem to cheer me on. And all the other friends who I know will be there. Even at the beginning of this journey I know I am truly grateful to have so much support from my friends and family. Little do they know they have a truly crazy friend, or maybe that's why we are friends. 26.2 miles....who in their right mind thinks that sounds like fun? I hope you enjoy reading about my marathon journey this year. Please send me motivation if you have it, or gain motivation yourself (not necessarily for a full marathon). Alright here we go...only 273 days till marathon day!