#1 Journal Entry---WHY?..you ask

Never been much of a journal keeping person and never had a blog before.  But look what it did for that Julie chick who blogged about a cookbook!  Plus I'm reading this really funny (and surprisingly helpful) book "The Non-Runners Marathon Guide For Women" and she says it will help if I journal.  Actually what I think she said is that it will give me something interesting to read when I'm all done and thinking about doing something crazy again. 

So I'm not a journaler.....I'm also not a runner.  My attention span is too low and running is boring.  Yes I openly admitted that.  And I have NO speed.  Turtles can pass me.  But completing a marathon is on my bucket list.  And it will catapult me in the coolness factor.  Ok just in my mind but hey.  And I have another reason too.  I have MS.  It sucks.  But I'm lucky.  I CAN run.  Lots of people like my friend Gert can't run.  Or the mystery woman at the MS150 a few years ago.  She wouldn't be able to do this either.  So I dont take for granted how lucky I am or that at any moment things could change.  So I'm running.  I'm running because I can and for those who can't!

This running idea didn't just start.  I've dabbled in it doing several 5K's over the years.  But I've struggled to run them without at least 1 or 2 walking breaks.  So the idea of 26.2 miles is a bit daunting.  And I dont want to walk it.  At least not much of it anyway.  I'm way to competitive.  I know I will be behind a ton of other people's butts (hopefully not too many will be in short shorts) but I will be totally happy if I can finish anywhere close to the middle of the pack. 

I'm not actually admitting yet that I'm going to run a marathon.  But that's the plan I'm 75% committed to right now.  I'm shooting for the Leading Ladies Marathon in the Black Hills on August 21, 2011.  First it's all women.  Second, it's all downhill!  I don't know if that's really a good thing but it sure sounds like it.  I figure if I get in trouble I could lay down and roll to the finish line.  Ok maybe not as most of our roads are gravel.  But a thought.  But I have officially committed and registered for my first 1/2 marathon, the Mickelson Trail Marathon on June 5.  I'm already up to running 10 miles without walking so I should be ok to do this. 

Yep I'm up to 10 miles.  Do you know how far that is?  That would be me running from our house in the country to the Casey's in Riverside for a donut.  Eventually I'll be able to run back home after the donut.  But not yet.

I started really running about the end of November.  Blame Apple.  My old ipod was acting up so I got a new one and it had this Nike program on it.  Well being a lover of all things techie I got the Nike+ Ipod kit and started tracking my runs on the treadmill and uploading them to Nike/Facebook.  Well the constant logging on to the Nike website to get the video praises of my progress led me to think 2011 should be the year of my marathon.  So I signed up for a Nike coaching program, bought some new shoes and have been working on it ever since. 

OK this is enough for my first journal entry.  I've got more to add.  Like about the pain in places I didn't know could hurt.  But that's for another day.