Running, So Far...

Last year, for a number of reasons, I decided that I will run a marathon in 2011. Some of those reasons include the following:

1. I need motivation to exercise

2. I made a goal when I was fourteen that I would run a marathon

3. I kind of like running. I've done two half-marathons, and I kind of liked them.

I did the Seattle Rock n' Roll Half marathon in June 2009, and I thought the race atmosphere was great! It was in Seattle (one of my favorite cities), and the course was so pretty! Not only that, but the live music every mile of the race was really fun. 

After I decided that I would do the Seattle Rock n' Roll Marathon this June, I knew that I had one more important step to take; I had to have my best friend Maura run it with me. I talked her into it, and here we are. Thanks Maura! It's February, and very cold. I'm in school and work from 8 am to 6 pm or later everyday, and daylight hours don't last very long this time of year. Luckily for me, BYU has a free gym and an indoor track, and daylight hours are getting longer now. All this aside, training for this marathon has been tough for me so far. Either I have to run on the incredibly monotonous indoor track (5 laps makes one mile) or I have to go outside and freeze my lungs in the frigid winter air.

In the last month, running has gotten a little easier, so that's a plus. It has also been nice to have a training buddy, even though she is 700 miles away. It's great to be able to talk about our progress that we're making, and to talk about how we're probably going to die when we run the marathon in Seattle. This sounds bad, but it is motivating for me to talk to Maura about training, because her schedule is so much worse than mine is. She is so ridiculously busy, and she still makes the effort to go running as much as she can. I should be more like her, and really give this training thing my all.

So that's the goal for February. I'm going to do all the miles on the training schedule.