And then I went running

Inspirational graffiti on my run:)

I had made a little note to myself in my planner at the beginning of November that if I was going to run the full marathon, I needed to make a training plan.  When I saw that a few weeks ago, I ignored it.  I was "too busy, too tired, too out of shape, too slow, too old".  Some combination of those excuses.  But then this weekend I had some time to myself and a beautiful day, so I decided to go for a run, to assess the situation.  And here is what I have decided...........I am going to register for the full marathon in December when registration opens.  What?!?  Something is wrong with me.  I am suuuuper nervous but at the same time, pretty excited.  Its not like I went out and ran 15 miles this weekend.  I did 6.  At well over 9 minute miles.  The thing that made me decide to take the plunge was how good it felt.  If I hadn't wanted to see the second half of the Husker football game, I could have easily done 10 miles.  And its only November!  Here's the deal with me and running.  Or me and sports for that matter.  I am not coordinated.  I am not competitive.  I am not fast.  Therefore, team sports and I do not mix.  I gave it a shot.  I played softball, soccer, volleyball, and basketball all at some point in my youth.  And I apologize to anyone who had to be on a team with me:) I was told by our family physician when I was young that I had bad knees and would never be a runner.  So I guess I never even really considered sports that I actually may have been able to do, like cross country or track.  I mean, I would not have been good at them, but I could have participated.  But I never even tried.  Then I became a grown up, I guess and needed a stress relieving hobby so I started running.  Its a very cheap hobby, thank goodness!  And I'm also kind of a stubborn grown up, so when I started thinking back about that doctor (maybe some of you remember him.  He had all those marathon posters in his office?) I thought, "I'll show him."  So I ran the Lincoln Half Marathon in 2008 and then again in 2011.  But what I really want to do?  The full marathon.  And then, if my body isn't destroyed by that, someday I would like to do an ultramarathon.  And a trail marathon.  And travel around the country doing marathons.  Ok, I might be getting a little carried away, but you get the idea.
So, I am sharing this on my blog in hopes of giving myself some major accountability.  Like, if you are watching at mile 20 on May 5th and you have waited for over 4 hours and you don't see me, you should give me a major guilt trip.  I am really going to need help from my family if I'm going to do this right.  Like, lots of time to run.  Lots of support to eat as healthy as possible and get as much rest as possible.  We will revisit this topic in a few months, I would suppose.  But for now, I better get to meal and workout planning!