A New Challenge

I may have told you all earlier that I have buyer's remorse. It doesn't matter what I purchase I usually second guess my purchase. That's all fine and dandy if it's a pair of shoes or a shirt but I have had it buying a car, house and registering for a race. Thoughts run through my head.  "Did I make the right choice? What if something is better that I didn't see? Can I really commit and do this?" That happened yesterday afternoon and I panicked most of the night. Yesterday morning I pulled myself out of bed- my back was hurting a lot and my shoulder is pinched so I'm a little sideways and I went downstairs and signed up for my marathon. I needed to get the discount price (I like a bargain). And by paying my money I'm committing to the training. And I run so I can be healthier and maybe loose some weight. Great plan. One small catch.

It's my first marathon and I'm slow- really slow like my last half I averaged 16:12 minute miles and the half before that was 15:29 minute miles (with a leg cramp that made me almost fall down and finish with a shuffle- hop- drag-my-leg-look-like-I-may-fall step the last .1 mile of the race. So what in the the name of Jesus and all that is holy did I think I could do a full? That's another half to run after running the first. I think I need to be evaluated by professionals. But I do want to do something challenging and big this year before I turn 40. And I turn 40 the second week of November. There's a great race outside of San Antonio  TX called The Chosen that raises money for families adopting. My wonderful friend Val, who has been one of my encouraging friends on my running journey, has done it. She suggested it to me and it works perfect in my schedule and why not travel someplace fun to run- I've done it for 3 of my six halves.

To top it off my wonderful non-running friend Christi said she would come and run the half in honor of my birthday. So the plan was set. Christi has even ran 2-5k's and taken a running group class and is now a really fast runner. After registering on Sunday, I posted it to Facebook and I think I may have a another friend run it as well. But as the day progressed and I started to read more about the race to be prepared. I panicked! Not paper bag type of panic but buyer's remorse. I realized the time limit is 6.5 hours instead of 7 and the course is out and back instead of a loop or point to point. That means the first 3 miles of hills are also the last 3 miles of hills. But as I laid in bed last night slightly freaking out. I realized that in order to finish in the 6.5 hours I need to run 14.52 minute miles and because of potentially needed to use a porta-potty along the way I thought I might need to say I need to run it in 6 hours and 15 minutes to give myself 15 minutes for the bathroom  That means I really need to run a 14.19 minute mile. That's a good two minutes faster than my normal time.

I did find some encouragement yesterday. I was reading my April addition of Runner's World  and there was a great story about last year's Boston Marathon and two runners who were running it for the first time. One was working on becoming a PA because she was told she couldn't be a nurse. She had been on her schools cross country and track team and had been a runner most of her life. Her friend had started running when he needed to lose weight (like me) and was run/walking the race (like me). The article talked about them both overcoming struggles and even mentioned working through running in public (like me). The only different between me and them- besides they were running Boston was they are little people. So it encouraged me that everyone has their struggles and obstacles to overcome and there are always going to be people who say you can't do something but if you keep at it you can do something incredible.

I'm not going to quit before I start and I may not finish in 6.5 hours but I'm going to try. So this morning I woke up and decided I need to give my running and training over to God and not worry every detail of it. But I'm also going to let you in on the journey of it. So I'll be posting about my progress here and through twitter and Facebook.