My issues with running (Or how I got myself into this mess)

Thank you for visiting my blog. It means a lot to me to have people support me as I train to accomplish my goal.

So some people have asked me why I'm doing this. A lot of people at work assume that because my boss has run 13 marathons and the other person in our three-person department has run one marathon and is training for Chicago that I just followed suit. Well, in a way, my boss and my co-worker have had a big impact on why I decided to do this. I think it's really great to have them as a reference. "Should I run tonight, my knee hurts?" "How far do you run?" "What should I expect?" "Where do you buy gu?" etc....

BUT, here's the bottom line — and it started years ago...
It's the summer before 8th grade. I'm sitting on my parents' bed watching their T.V. It's tuned to the Olympics and it's the marathon. It is the first time I have ever heard of a marathon. I am amazed. I am fascinated. I am glued to the T.V. I think, 26 miles? (I don't think I even grasped the .2 part.) I am the girl who hates sports. I can't even make the Jr. High Volleyball team. (I'm the manager.) I ran track this year for the first time this year. My event was the 400 meter run. I sucked. I sucked so bad that I came in dead last EVERY time. I cheated during all of the practices and I think a half a mile is a long way to run.

Fast forward to high school...
I'm 17. I have suddenly taken an interest in running for fun. I find it theraputic to accomplish distance running after being so bad at it in Jr. High. I run The Trolley Run with my friend, Laura for the first time. Four miles felt like a big deal.

College...
I start the Cross Country Team at my college. I think my school needs a running team, so I start it. But remember, I'm only a recreational runner and I'm the worst runner on the team. But it's my "baby" so I encourage others to do their best. I only last a year on my team because my 5k time is awful (slower than 30 minutes, but I'm not going into details about it...too embarrasing) and I want to be the editor of my newspaper for career advancement purposes, so I quit. (No one seems to miss me or my lousy time.)

Adult Life...
I pick up a few bad habits. Smoking, drinking, you know... and so I stick with running, but it's never a serious venture. At some point I think, I want to run a marathon before I'm 30. But I'm 23 and that's a long way off...

Today...
I wake up one day and I'm 27. I think, this 30 thing is coming up and I'm no where near ready to run any marathon. Enter boss and co-worker. Ok, there is no excuse not to do this. And hey, the Kansas City Marathon is only 4 days after my 28th birthday. Oh, and it's been a year or so since this marathon has been here, so they are making a big deal about how it's back. Lucky me. The way I look at it is, once it's over, I can check "run a marathon" off my list of things to do. And I like lists.