18 weeks to 26.2

 
I have a HUGE announcement. At least, it seems huge to me. Last night I registered to run the ING Hartford Marathon! I've already done a lot of preparation and set up a training schedule (which starts this week), and when I found out that the race is limited to only 3500 runners I decided to bite the bullet and register before it fills up. 

Talking and thinking about running a marathon turned out to be much easier than actually committing to it. I filled out the form online, put in the payment information, and froze. Even though I want to do this more than anything, it is a big, big deal and something I don't want to fail at. I had to talk Chris into coming over and hitting the key to finalize the transaction for me. He did. I held my breath, then clapped and laughed giddily while suppressing the urge to hyperventilate. I can't believe I'm doing this. This is a major time commitment, not to mention the mental and physical challenges and the chance that I could get injured and not even run. Chris and I have been talking about it for a while, and we think my training schedule will be workable through the summer. Things may get tricky in the fall when he has class at night and I'm back at work. But, we'll just have to figure it out when we get there and will only have to deal with it for six weeks before the marathon.

At this point my goal is to finish the marathon with a not-embarrassing time. I think I can do that. All that's required is running, and lots of it. Although I've never run this distance, I do have a lot of experience with running and racing. This is my dream, you guys! I hope I can realize it.

When I set off for my long run today in the stillness of a cool and misty morning, it felt like the beginning of something big. Now I have four months to make it happen.