Run Forrest, Run!

I have decided that I am officially insane. I mean, that is the only logical explanation as to why I would sign up to run a half marathon in 10 weeks. That's right friends I, the kid who has never run more then 2 miles in her life, is going to run 13.1 miles on October 17th (actually, I'd say 'lightly jog' is the more proper terminology for what I'll be doing). How did I come to sign up for such an adventure? Well, let me tell you.

As you can all see from my lack of posting, my exercise life has gone absolutely nowhere in the past few months. I had become very bored with my normal gym routine and I didn't really feel like I was getting anything out of it anymore. Sure, when I went I felt good and I felt stronger but it was a chore to go and I wasn't happy. So without really knowing what exactly I was looking for I knew that I wanted something more challenging to work for.

Then a few weeks ago I received an e-mail from my oldest brother informing me that my other brother was running the Detroit Marathon and that he had decided to run the half marathon the same day. He mentioned that our parents had said that I had been working out and running and asked if I'd be interested in running the 5k on race day. Immediately I was touched that he thought to invite me to join the two of them on their race day; I'm not exactly the athletic one of the family and generally when my two brothers get together I'm not included so it meant a lot to me that he wanted to make this a sibling thing.

I quickly decided that I was going to join the two of them on race day, but the thought of running the 5k seemed way lame to me. I mean, 3 miles isn't that difficult to run if you're moderately in shape and with about 13 weeks to prepare I mean come on! The more I thought about it the more I realized that the half marathon was exactly the challenge I was looking for. I would have a set training schedule with a real goal to work towards instead of the abstract "get healthier" or "lose weight." Yes, it would be hard as hell to do but it has that "go big or go home" feel to it that I kind of really enjoy. So last week I officially signed up and paid my $80 to run the Detroit Half Marathon.

Am I scared shitless? Of course I am!! The thought of running that much makes me want to cry, but I know I can do this. Part of the reason I wanted to run this half marathon was to prove to not only myself, but all the people who have known me all my life and seen me as the fat kid that I am capable of doing this. I know my brother was being nice in suggesting the 5k to me since I have never run an actual race before but I want to prove to him and the rest of my family that I'm just as physically capable as my brothers. I want to prove to myself that I can set a lofty goal such as this and achieve it. I know that preparation is key and the biggest thing I am going to work on over the next 10 weeks is mentally preparing myself. The more I train physically, my body will fall in line so I'm not too worried about that; what needs to be worked on is the 22 years of my brain telling me that I'm not as athletically capable of doing things like this as others are. I know the next 10 weeks are going to be grueling but with the support of my friends and family I know that I'll make it through and when I finally cross that finish line after 13.1 miles and I stop wanting to kill myself I am going to be immensely proud of myself. That is the moment that I am looking forward to.

With all that said, my hope is that over the course of my training I'll keep the blog updated with how and what I'm doing. Today was the official start of training. I started running last week, but today I started the training schedule. When I registered for the race I registered in the 15:00 minute mile pace group. My goal is to end up being around 12:00-12:30 minute mile pace group. I don't think that's a completely radical goal. Today I ran my 3.12 miles (thanks mapmyrun.com!) in 38 minutes. That's a little over a 12:30 minute mile and much better then the 15:00 minute mile I was running last week. What I'm most proud of, though, is the fact that in my final stretch I didn't stop. I think for most people, knowing the end is coming makes that last leg of the run so much harder. For me, running down Belden from Clark to Orchard and then up to Fullerton is the hardest part of that 3 mile run mentally. It's only about half a mile but it feels like it's going to kill me. Today my goal was to prove that I could finish strong and I did exactly that. I kept on running that last half mile and that is one skill that I know will come in handy on October 17th.