Step One: Admit You're a Runner

I have been running for just under a year now. I still consider myself a newbie even though I ran the Philadelphia Half Marathon (Nov 2010) in 2 hours and 40 minutes. Somehow, I still think that was a first time fluke. Even though I remember running, and I remember the adrenaline, and knowing that I couldn't stop until I got to the end... but there is just something impossible about believing I accomplished a goal and exceeded ALL possible expectations I had for myself.

I've been training for the DC Half Marathon for a few months, although I use the word "training" lightly since I have lacked the consistency of a true runner and instead look more like a high school track athlete trying to impress the boys with her pretend skills.

But okay, I admit it, I'm a runner. I guess I had been fighting it for years, who knows why, that will be for the shrink to uncover in about ten years...

So I run... I don't run fast... and typically I don't even run far... unless there are 17000 other people with me and I've paid a lot of money to get a number on my shirt.

It all started with a gchat or a text message (can't really remember which) where a book was recommended to me... Born to Run... an amazing book that halfway through seriously changed my life... and I started running in my backyard... barefoot... for 30 seconds, then a minute, then two minutes...

I ran on the sidewalks of Rodgers Forge, Baltimore, Maryland. Then we moved to Surry County, North Carolina... and I began running on the roads of Shoals.... then I took some time and ran 5 miles in Accra, Ghana... then back to running in Shoals... and Pilot Mountain, NC.

Eventually, I made my way home to run the Philadelphia Half Marathon... and as I've already reported, I finished that race with flying colors... and a desire to keep going....

But then it was winter... and it is hard to run in the ice and snow... in the freezing temperatures... around the holidays... I kept trying... nothing extravagate or memorable... I used a treadmill in my hotel in Las Vegas twice to take advantage of the indoor running opportunity... I found a park with a trail near my new part-time job during an unseasonably warm week in February... and here I am, about to start the second week of March... after suffering a week off due to the flu, and a FAIL week due to the lingering cough and sinus pain...

2.5weeks until DC Half Marathon... I have my supplements, my game plan, my ipod... now all I need is time, good weather, and energy...