It's Not About the Numbers

Since I've started training and blogging, word has spread across the community about my, now very public, plans. So far everyone has been very supportive and excited for my news. My friend Morgan made cute handmade hair ties for my workouts, Katie shared her recipe for delicious peanut butter energy balls and colleagues throughout the community have been sending me words of encouragement. It is exciting and I hope that I am inspiring others to become more active in 2014 and challenge themselves, personally.

One of the most common questions I hear is "Wow, you're running a half-marathon; so how many miles are you up to?" The question is innocent and very valid. The first week, my answer was sheepishly "one." This week, my answer is a confident "one to two miles."

Looking back on the past two weeks, I have run at least one mile (if not more) almost every single day and I'm so proud of that. That's one mile more each day than I've run in over a year. Seriously. That makes me happy because I know that I'm doing something good for my body and my overall well-being.

My goal has been to increase my endurance as much as possible before the training program begins on January 14th and then work on gradually increasing mileage.

Others have asked, "Do you really think you can do it?" Again, another completely innocent question and also very valid. My answer is "Yes, I know that I can walk 13.1 miles and I believe that I will be able to run it." Mid-way through the race If I get tired and can't run anymore, I'll walk. The bottom line is that I will finish the race and I know that I'm going to feel great crossing that finish line.

73 Days to Go -  I hit the treadmill at the YMCA for another lunch-break run and set a new pace record of 11:06 per mile. To be completely transparent, take that number with a grain of salt as there were no elevation changes, vehicles or dogs involved in this run. LOL

72 Days to Go - I wanted a change of scenery and opted to run the indoor track at the YMCA. Life lesson here...GPS does not work well in buildings. I ran and ran feeling very good until I heard the audio cues on RunKeeper tell me I was running a pace of a 45:00 per mile..."what?!" The next lap she would tell me 6:00 per mile..."no way!" After looking at the monitor, I realized that the numbers were only changing when I ran by the windows. Oops! I have no clue how far I ran yesterday but I ran and that's the part that counts.

I'm looking forward to another run this afternoon and if you see me out and about, do ask because I want to confidently tell you "One mile, every day! I feel great, so come join me!"