The Reason

Everything we do in life is for some reason or another, so I wanted to share the reasoning for me to create this blog. This blog is for me. I am not too concerned if anyone reads it. If they do and get something out of it that is great, but this is for me. A few years back a friend of mine was starting a training program to run what probably would have been her 3rd or 4th half-marathon at the time. I was in awe at her non-chalante way of passing off this enormous feat! I always thought people who ran long distance were super athletes where sports, running, and training consumed their life and they didn't have jobs or families outside of it. However, she proceeded to explain to me how simple it was, how I could run 13.1 miles in a few months time. Me?! I sprinted in high school track and field but that was it. I hated running long distance.....But to think, the challenge of it is what intrigued me. If she could do it, could I? I thought I would have a go at this unimaginable goal I just set for myself. After registering for the big day, people were shocked and wide eyed (as was I) when I informed them of my plan. My fire had been fueled. To accomplish this task in the eyes of so many, who thought as I did, that this was something that should not be attempted by us mere mortals gave me the drive to take this on. I stuck to the training schedule like it was a new religion. I sacrificed doing things I would have normally done in order to make time to run. I started on a treadmill, because it was the winter, and forced myself to achieve my goal one day at a time. Little by little, it got easier. I was feeling better and looking better. The big day came. I ran (and walked a little), I finished! The sensation that swept my body, mind, and soul could never be forgotten. I was changed, for life. I was not the same person that I was before. I have accomplished something so extraordinary that I struggle to describe the feeling to others. Since then I have felt that no goal is too small and all things are possible....Skip forward a little...that fall my husband and I decided to take on the only other task that could even match my latest achievement...creating life. Not quite a year after completing my half-marathon my husband and I created a human being! He was born in October 2008 and I would never be able to explain the feelings we felt or how he has changed our life on paper....Now skip forward again to today....I have been struggling to get back into a routine for running. Having a baby around the house makes strategic planning for running time a little harder. I am plagued by guilt thinking I should sacrafice time with my son or family to run. I have started and stopped running more times than I can count on both hands. My trouble lies with consistency. I am not running often enough to build anything up and I feel like every couple weeks I am starting over. So, yesterday I started over again. Hopefully by maintaining journal entries and connecting with others through my blog it will provide with the motivation I need to make this happen. I am hoping to locate a half-marathon in the December/January time frame so I have something to shoot for. I miss the feeling of being able to tie up my shoes, and head out the door for an easy five miles and the good feeling afterword. I feel like I have lost a piece of me that I am determined to get back. No matter how long it takes.