You Just Finished Running 13.1 Miles...

What are you going to do next?

We're going to Disney World!

Oh wait, we are already at Disney World. So we are going to go back to the hotel, shower, change, take a quick nap, and then go back to Disney World for a day at the Magic Kingdom. No, I'm not kidding. My parents thought that a family day at the park would be an awesome way to follow a 13.1 mile run. In reality, it was probably the best thing for my body to be walking (probably more limping then walking) around instead of crashing in my bed watching TV, but it was a pretty painful afternoon.

Our first order of business after pushing through the park's turn dial was finding something to eat. No one had eaten since before the race and we were starving. So what did we decide on? Gigantic, baseball park style, hotdogs.

After lunch it was time for some Disney fun. The interesting thing was that not one person in my entire family even attempted to find a park map. We just didn't see the point in carrying one around. We know exactly which rides are among our family favorites, we have the strategy down to a science so that we are not waiting in line for anything longer than necessary, and we know the fastest way to get to every ride and most restaurants from any point in the park. These are things you just know when you go to Disney at least once a year for your entire childhood.

The Buzz Lightyear ride is one of our favorites, although my dad and I usually lose horribly - this time was no different. My brothers play too many video games, or at least that is always my excuse.

The Haunted Mansion still creeps me out even as an adult. There is always something that surprises or scares me. I always feel bad for the people who work close to this ride because they have to wear these period styled costumes that include gigantic dresses and lots of layers of thick clothing. I can't imagine wearing that stuff in the Florida heat, but their "characters" are really rude so being paid to be rude to vacationers can't be all that bad. 

Pirates of the Caribbean is another LaSelva family favorite - and we loved it LONG before they made the movie and incorporated Captain Jack into the scenes of the ride.

As you can see, even now that we are all older, it's still impossible to get a good family photo with a six person family.

Considering a LaSelva family day at Disney usually lasts from the moment the gates open until the moment they close, it was odd for us to get there around lunchtime and leave around dinner time, especially when we weren't even making the hour drive home but just a short bus ride back to our hotel. 

Speaking of the bus ride back to the hotel - after literally half a day of walking around the park, we sat down on the bus and my brother J.J. (who slept in the hotel while Josh and I ran the Disney Half) said, "I'm glad we are heading back, I'm pretty tired and sore from walking." I just stared at him in disbelief. Was he seriously complaining about being sore and tired? And complaining to me and Josh nonetheless? I swear our family would make one heck of a reality show.

The main reason we headed back to the hotel a little early was not that J.J. was so sore, but that I wanted to eat dinner at one of the restaurants in the hotel. They had a African buffet that looked phenomenal and since we had hotdogs for lunch, I wanted a true celebratory meal. Buffets are my absolute favorite!

Round 1:

The food was so good! I think everyone in the family was pretty thrilled with my restaurant choice, even my brothers who are always skeptical of new things, especially when it comes to food. I think I out-ate everyone though. After three rounds of dinner plates, it was time for dessert. 

My dad assumed I would come back with one dessert - oh dad, you should know by now that is just simply not a possibility. He couldn't stop laughing when I walked back to the table with a sample of everything on the dessert bar. 

Not long after dessert I was in bed only to get up early and head to the airport to fly back to Colorado. Even though the day at Disney was a painful one, it was still a great day with the family. When I was younger I took days like this for granted. I had no idea how quickly we would all grow up and go our separate ways. Now, the days we are all together are so few and far between. I think all of us have a new found appreciation for days like this one.

Thirteen Point Freaking One!

On January 7, my brother and I ran our first half marathons! And what better place to torture yourself for 13.1 miles than the happiest place on earth - Disney World!

I would easily put this 13.1 mile run down as one of my top five life accomplishments. So why am I just now blogging about it? Well, because it took over a month and a half for my parents to figure out how to download the photos off my mom's digital camera and get them to me. Welcome to life as a LaSelva kid. 

I've heard that for your first race you shouldn't set goals, but with my and my type A personality, that just wasn't an option: 

Goal #1: Don't die!

Goal #2: Don't get picked up by Mickey Mouse and his golf cart - when I signed up for the race I read through all of the fine print of the waivers and agreements and noticed that runners had 3.5 hours to complete the race. Any runner unable to keep a pace resulting in a 3.5 hour finish or more, would be picked up by a golf cart and driven to the finish line - it doesn't get much worse than that folks! How humiliating! I swear I spent the last few months of training having nightmares about Mickey Mouse and his friends chasing me through the Magic Kingdom with me yelling over my shoulder, "please just let me finish!"

Goal #3: Finish in less than 3 hours

After months of training, race weekend finally arrived and I was pumped! Because the race started so early, and because having our entire family in the same room is somewhat monumental now days, my parents decided to make a mini vacation out of it. 

We arrived in Orlando the day before the race and immediately went to the race check-in and fitness expo. As we walked past lines of cars with stickers from not just half marathons, but full marathons, triathlons and iron man competitions, I started to panic. Here I am having never run in my life before six months ago and now I'm standing here getting ready to run a half marathon. I felt so intimidated, like everyone was looking at me knowing I had no business competing in their race. 

The next morning the alarm went off at 3:30am. Even though we were staying at a Disney hotel, we still had to be on the bus at 4:00am in order to get to our spots at the starting line by 5:00am. The fact that I'm not a morning person coupled with the fact that any excitement had turned to absolute panic, kept me almost silent all morning.

My parents might have been more nervous than me, and rightfully so. Just a few years before they were sitting in doctor's offices looking for answers as to why their daughter's lungs weren't functioning normally (more here) and now here we were, me getting ready to run a half marathon and them never having seen my months of training and progress.  

Also, even though it's Florida, it was still basically the middle of the night in January and we were freezing. My brother and I kept our jackets as long as we could until we had to hand them off to our parents in order to line up with the other 27,000 runners - yes, I said 27,000 race participants! 

Around 5:30am Josh and I made our way toward the starting line. We were in different waves so we parted ways about 30 minutes after saying goodbye to the parental unit. Our other brother J.J. decided to just stay asleep in the hotel and Sam spent the night in his apartment (he goes to college in Orlando) and meet us after the race was over. 

My wave didn't start until around 6:30am so I was standing in the cold for quite some time before I was even able to start. In fact, when I was finishing mile #1, there were people from the first wave already passing us on their way back, which was mile #11 for them. Talk about discouraging! 

As soon as I crossed the starting line, I turned on Needtobreathe's new album and just focused on getting into a good rhythm and decent pace. Thankfully, unlike my Turkey Trot experience, there was plenty of room and it was easy to get around people. 

By the time I hit the 0.5 mile mark, I was feeling confident and was grinning from ear to ear. For at least the first 8 miles, I couldn't wipe that goofy grin from my face even if you paid me a million dollars. 

Plus, my parents who couldn't seem to figure out how to download photos, somehow mastered Disney's runner tracking system so they could see me and my brother (who was about an hour ahead of me) at different points in the race. 

Having my parents there made the whole event so special. Living so far away from them is hard because we rarely get to share even the big moments like Thanksgiving or seeing my new house, so being able to share this achievement with them was incredibly special. 

I could not have picked a better race for my first half marathon! When you see people at every mile stopping to take pictures with characters, it's hard to psych yourself out or feel intimidated. Everyone (at least in my wave) was so encouraging, kind and relaxed. It's easy to forget about the pain when you are running right through the castle at the Magic Kingdom and just when you start to feel discouraged, you look up and see the sun rise right over the ball at Epcot. In fact, I was so entertained/distracted by the characters, bands, and sights and sounds of the parks, that my music had stopped playing for at least a mile before I even realized it.

Running at sea level compared to the Rocky Mountains of Colorado where I had done all of my training was awesome! I never once had trouble catching my breathe. However, despite the elevation, your body (or at least my body) does start to break down at a certain point. My smile started to slip away right at the 10 mile marker. 

About 2/3 of the race is on major roadways and right after I reached mile 10, the course led us straight up a freeway embankment. This is what I know - I drive a 6 cylinder SUV and even it would have had to switch gears in order to make it up this thing. I was already pretty tired and in the final three mile stretch so I shouldn't have been surprised when my body pushed back and my knee gave out. I didn't fall or anything, but I sure could feel the pain shooting down my leg with every step. At that moment I knew my nice pace was totally blown and by mile 11 I was starting to have doubts I would even finish. This was no longer fun, but I was determined to finish and I was determined to cross the finish line after running (not walking) the last mile. 

I am happy to say, tweaked knee and all, I made it AND met all three of my goals!

Final Time: 2 hours and 50 minutes (I was hoping to be closer to 2:30 than 3 hours, but for my first half marathon I am thrilled to death to meet my original goal of 3 hours with some time to spare!)

Final Race Stats

Registered Runners - 27,000 total

Runners Who Completed Race - 22,421 total (I finished #14,716)

Women Runners - 12,322 total (I finished #7,071)

My Age Group (25-29) - 1,889 total (I finished #1,184)

Josh finished at 2 hours and 15 minutes. What a stud!

Honey, I'm HOME!

Finally, I'm back to my home, my routine, and most importantly...my bed! So far the month of November has been a blur thanks to a long weekend trip to Austin followed by a grand total of 30 hours back in Colorado Springs only to get on a plane to Louisville for a 7 day trip. Somewhere around my second night in Louisville I hit a wall - possibly because my body had been through three time zones and a time change in just three days. Sorry internal clock. My bad. Anyway, I promise there are posts coming on my recent adventures. Stay tuned. 

Until then, I thought I would share a few personal revelations that were a direct result of my recent travels. 

1. Somewhere along the way I became a home-body, introvert. I don't know when this happened, but upon reflection I have to admit I'm not surprised. In the last five years I picked up and moved to Texas, moved back to Florida, and then picked up again and moved to Colorado. I think I've had five different addresses in those five years. Oh, then there were those months with Student Life thrown in there where I quite literally took a tour of the United States by 15 passenger van. All of that to say, now that I have a steady home (and one that I own none the less) I discovered I just don't like to leave it and constantly being surrounded by people is no longer my cup of tea. 
2. It's nearly impossible to abide by a strict running schedule while traveling. Don't ask me why, it just is.
3. There is no need to freak out when you miss a few days on your running schedule. Just because you miss a few days or even get a week behind doesn't mean you are going to completely lose the strength and stamina you've built up over the past few months. I may have had a brief freak-out session in Austin.
4. Hello my name is Danielle and I'm addicted to running. Is this because I realized that I just absolutely love running? Nope. It's because my body literally started revolting against me after about five days without a run. I couldn't believe it. My back started aching. I was constantly tired and sore. After a few days of misery, it dawned on me that this was not just because of the travel. After a three mile jog by the river in Louisville I was good as new. Unbelievable. I get it now. Runner (and I'm not calling myself a runner) don't necessarily run because they want to. They run because their body will start to revolt against them if they don't. 
5. No matter how much time goes by, some things never change.
6. Holy cow, next week is Thanksgiving! 

So how did I spend my first weekend home in the entire month of November? Well, first of all I slept in!

Then when I finally descended from my bedroom around noon, I went for a 10 mile run. You know what? I'm just going to go ahead and toot my own horn here...I finished the run in two hours and that was with 60mph wind gusts that resulted in a loss of feeling in my limbs for the last three miles. Toot toot.

After the run and a long, hot shower I crashed for a few hours. 

Then it was on to a little weekend project. I kept my number from my mud run and I have a lot of great photos from the day. It was my first race ever so I wanted to do something to put the memory on display. I've been wanting to use one of those clear, shadowbox-like frames for a while and I saw this as my opportunity. 

 I arranged the photos and the number to my liking, and then got ready to hang it in my office.

It was then I realized...I have no idea how to hang this thing. For real, does anyone know how to easily hang this sucker?

Now if someone posts an answer to the above question I'm going to feel really stupid. But because I'm not patient and didn't feel like calling or texting anyone, I took matters into my own hands, which is rarely a good thing, but always ends up working out. I made a few trips to the garage and found a saw hook and a few nails that were small enough to nail into the back of the frame without shooting out through the front. After a few minutes I had frame I could actually hang - novel idea. At least I was smart enough to take the glass out...just in case the hammer got away from me. Yeah, that's how much faith I have in my fix-it abilities.

Finally I was able to put the glass back in the frame and hang it. Project = Done!

 I know the wall looks a little bare, but I'm hoping to add another frame with my number and pictures from my upcoming half marathon along with mementos from future life adventures. 

I think later tonight or tomorrow I'm going to try out paint colors for my living room. That will be the Thanksgiving weekend project. Get excited - I am! 

Dirty Girl

That was the name of my race back in September. For real - the Dirty Girl Mud Run. I was waiting for more pictures before I finally blogged about it. I didn't think it would be almost two months later, but better late than never, right?

A group of women from church decided that since the guys did a mud race last summer, we should do one together. I'm always up for stuff like this so it took very little convincing. I started training for this thing about 10 weeks in advance. We did the race as a team and although I don't mind going slower for team other members, I wanted to make sure it wasn't me who was holding everyone up. Thus, that is how the running began. Basically, the Dirty Girl was the beginning of the story of how I started training for a half marathon.

I volunteered to take charge of the event for our team - team Muddy Buddies. This included planning a team practice. The original idea was for us to meet at a local park and exercise and run together the week before the race. Well, it rained that night so we met at Village Inn for pie instead. I know, coach of the year. Honestly, I partially believed everyone was training on their own...turns out, not so much.

Well, the day of the race we drove to Calhan, CO and I think all of us were a bit nervous about what this race would look like. This was my first race ever and I had no idea what to expect. Before the race started we said a prayer together and then made our way to the starting line.

I think we all expected the race to be much harder than it actually was. The obstacles were pretty weak, and our team walked most of the trails. I'm not convinced our entire team understood we were supposed to be running the whole time, but that's fine. 

About one mile in, one of our team members said, "This is so great! How often do we have the chance to just talk without kids around?"

For team Muddy Buddies the race was obviously more about building relationships than it was about actually racing. If I hadn't already made the decision to do the half marathon I probably would have been upset that my weeks of training were for nothing, but because I had already started to train for a bigger goal, I could just enjoy the mud run and even the time we had to take a leisure walk without kids around.

Even though it took us nearly an hour to do a three mile race, the finish line still seemed like an accomplishment. 

I finished my first race...ever! Plus, it was a great feeling to accomplish something as a team, and as a church. We had quite the cheering section waiting for us at the finish line. That alone is reason to celebrate. 

After the race, we were given a complimentary cocktail. Any race where they give you a post-race mixed drink is a great race. 

Me and a few of my favorite team members following the race.

Team Muddy Buddies BEFORE the race... yes, the all black and matching headbands was planned.

Team Muddy Buddies AFTER the race...

By the time we left the race festivities it was nearly 2:00 and we were starving. So where do you go when you are desperate for food and covered in mud? Sonic, of course! 

Do you ever feel like everyone is staring at you? Well, imagine the attention you get when you get out of the car with six of your friends, all covered head to toe in mud and then sit down to eat. We made quite the scene. 

Fun times. Great memories. Dirty or clean, I'm blessed to have these women in my life. 

5 Mile Miracle

WARNING: This is by far the most vulnerable blog post I've written in the history of this blog.

Tonight I ran 5 miles! 

I would also venture to guess that not many people in my life know just how big of a deal this is. The truth is, this whole training for a half marathon thing is something I was told I would never be able to do.  

When I was 20 I moved to West Texas to go to the best University on the face of the earth, also know as Texas Tech. I lived in Lubbock for about a month when I started to notice my health was taking a steady decline. In just a few weeks, I went from exercising at least an hour a day three times per week to not being able to walk across campus. When I woke up in the middle of the night because I had stopped breathing, that is when I knew it was time to see a doctor. 

The next few months were a blur. I was in and out of doctor's offices on almost a daily basis and no one seemed to have any answers. After a few weeks of failed solutions, a was sent to a specialist. He was less than encouraging. He looked me straight in the eye and said, "You will never have a normal life again." He told me that I needed to forget about my active lifestyle and focus on survival. He was scared that one of these times I would go to sleep, stop breathing, and never wake up. 

I had some big decisions to make, but I knew for sure the Lord led me to Texas Tech; and I refused to believe he asked me to move 1,500 miles away from home for me to die in a dorm room in my sleep. I wasn't ready to pack it up and go back to Florida. I stayed in Texas. 

As you can imagine, my parents were concerned. I was taking about six different medications multiple times per day and although it was helping me to breathe, they were also making me very sick. My mom started doing research and found another specialist in Lubbock. This time she flew out for the appointment. This doctor was a lot more hopeful. He said although everything the other doctor said was correct and that I did need to be careful. However, unlike the other doctor, this one was dedicated to giving me back my life. He wasn't willing to accept "survival" as a goal. He also figured out I was allergic to the main ingredient in all of my medication so although I didn't exactly get to lessen the number of meds I was taking, at least the new ones didn't make me sick. 

Exercising was still out of the question, but slowly but surly I was starting to get healthy again. By spring semester things were starting to become manageable and by the following fall I was starting to feel normal again, with the help of regulated medicine and frequent doctor visits. 

However, not too long after I turned 22, I went in for one of my doctor's appointments and they found some spots on my lungs. That's when things got really scary. 

I was so thankful for my Bible study partner John and his girlfriend (now wife) Elisabeth. They went to doctor's appointments with me and sat in waiting rooms while I was undergoing tests. What a blessing to be in their wedding a few years later.

After a few weeks of blood work and more scans to rule out cancer and a few other diseases, the doctors decided it was scarring. We still aren't sure how my lungs are so scared, but out of all the things it could have been, I'm thankful for the scarring. 

A few months after the cancer scare, I went to work for Student Life. I remember having to sit and tell a team of people I had known all of 3 days about my medical journey. This was a big part of my testimony at the time, but I mostly had to tell them because I still wasn't 100% healthy and for people you are living and working with for three months to not know that stuff....well, as much as I really do like to keep things like that to myself, it's just a bad idea in that kind of situation. Working camps takes quite the toll on even the most healthy bodies and there was a good chance the next three months would be a struggle. 

I did have some hard days while I was working camp but less than expected. There was one night when we were in California that my lungs were so tight my whole body was in pain. Out of desperation, I pumped myself with too much medicine. I could barely hold my head up. I ended up falling asleep under the lighting board during the evening worship service. The guys on the production staff were so sweet to just leave me there until we were done for the night and then wake me up and make sure I got back to my room and into bed. 

My team was so great! They had this awesome way of looking out for me without ever making me feel like a sick patient. 

After that summer I went back to Texas to finish college and that next year things really started to return to normal. I was starting to take less medicine and see fewer doctors. Slowly but surly over the next few years, things got better and better and now I only take medicine if I really feel like I need it, which is less than once a month.

My mom called me last week and asked how my body was doing now that I am running all the time. She was worried (and rightfully so) about the effects of the constant cardio in the high elevation. To be totally honest, it took me about five minutes to even figure out why she was asking. It was like all those prior years of struggles (that weren't all that long ago) were totally forgotten.

That doctor was right. My life was never the same, but not in the way he meant it. I am doing things physically now that I have never done before. I have never run five miles before and now I'm doing it and I plan on running 13 miles in just a few months. The conversation with my mom made me realize this upcoming race is so much more than just another goal, it's truly a miracle! 

Officially Official - The Disney Half

There is no turning back now. Registering just made it a lot more real. I'm officially out of the "thinking" stage and into the "registered" stage. Disney Half Marathon, here I come.

Ok, so during the registration process, there were a few things that stuck out to me. First of all, I took WAY too much time trying to decide what size shirt I needed. I realize I may have taken it a bit far when I was measuring my favorite t-shirts and comparing size measurements, but if I'm doing this thing, the t-shirt sure as heck better fit. Thus, I am happy to tell all of you who may be a little self conscious about your clothing size, that a girl who wears an x-small can be just as out of shape as one who wears an XXL.

Second, I couldn't bring myself to read the waver. I didn't want to know the risks of running 13.1 miles. I already know it's going to be painful.

Third, during registration they ask what county you are from. For the first time ever I had to select the "not from Florida" option. I love Colorado, but to be honest it caused some serious physical pain to check that box. I kept looking for a comment box in which I could further explain. I really am FROM Florida, I just don't live there right now.  

Fourth, I bet you were all wondering what online registration company Disney used for the event? Or maybe the geekdom of working in IT is just starting to rub off on me. Either way, Disney uses RegOnline, the same online registration company we use at work. I setup events with RegOnline almost every day. I'm even going to get a little cocky here and say the event registration setups I have created are a little more user friendly than Disney's marathon registration. So to whoever setup the online registration, I have some pointers for you.

Finally, and most terrifying about the whole thing...after reading through some of the information, I noticed a small little fact that I managed to gloss over during the "thinking" phase of this whole half marathon decision. Apparently if you do not maintain an average 16 minute mile throughout the race, then a kind Disney employee takes the liberty of picking you up in a golf cart and driving you to the finish line. I think I might have nightmares about a mouse chasing me in a golf cart. How embarrassing to be driven to the finish line. This can NOT happen, under any circumstance. They are going to have to physically tie me up and throw be into the car kicking and screaming. I realize I could probably walk the whole thing backward and probably finish in less than 16 minutes per mile, but still, it's the fear that keeps me running when all I want to do is stop and walk.

I'm still working out the details of my training plan, but I have a rough idea of my plan of action. Here we go. I'm really doing this. 

He Said Yes!

Yesterday I was checking my email and ran across this courtesy of the MapMyRUN app on my phone.

I don't know what happened, but as soon as I saw Disney I started clicking. One thing led to the next and before I knew it, I was looking at dates for the Disney Half Marathon. I've been training for my upcoming 5k for all of a week and a half. I have no business even looking at a website for a half marathon. How did I get here?

But...the more I read the more perfect the idea sounded. I would already be in Central Florida for Christmas and could easily stay until race day (January 7). My 5k is in September which would put me in the perfect condition to start training for a half marathon immediately following. Plus, the race is at Disney World...great weather, flat as can be, and plenty of oxygen to go around. Seriously, I don't know what came over me, but the next thing I knew I was Google searching running plans.

On the way home from work I called my brother Sam. I started telling him about my training for the 5k, the run at Disney, and half way through my spiel he interrupted me and said, "Are you calling to ask me to run with you?" I told him I was getting to that part and he promptly answered with a resounding and definitive "Hell no!"

Ok, so no dice with Sam. Now on to J.J. who conveniently was sitting right next to Sam when I called. All he could do was laugh. I had no prayer of convincing J.J. this was a good idea. Dad pretty much gave me the same reaction mixed with some excuse about bad knees and being old. All three of them told me I needed to wait until Josh got home and talk to him. The family consensus was he was my best bet.

Desperate times call for...a phone call to Mom. There was no laughing or cursing with Mom, just a flat out no. She also suggested I call Josh.

I anxiously counted down the hours until I knew Josh would be home. I called him and started down the same line of logic I tried with Sam. To my complete shock, Josh could not say yes fast enough. He was so on board. He started asking me all kinds of questions and wanted to start training right away. He could not have been more excited. No convincing needed.

Josh and I both decided to think about it over the weekend and then call each other on Sunday or Monday after we had time to consider the huge commitment this would take.

Today Josh sent me a text to let me know he ran five miles.

It looks like we just might be doing a half marathon....

First Week is DONE, Son!

I did it! I'm honestly pretty surprised, but proud to say, I finished week one of my running plan. That means I've run three times in the past six days...and no one was chasing me any of the three times. Not impressive (even to me), but it's a start. Is it getting more fun? No! Is it getting easier, definitely no!

Right now my iPhone app has me running/walking in 1.5 minute intervals with a five minute warm up and a five minute cool down. By the way, I really need a name for the voice of my personal trainer on my app. After all, we spend at least an hour and a half together each week. Many weeks, that is more time than I spend with some of my closest friends. I am open to any suggestions. It's a man's voice, sounds like he is in his early-mid 30's, and he kind of has a deeper voice than most men I know.

So here are the highlights:

Day one a sweet old man who was working in his yard stopped working to tell me I was doing a great job as a passed his house. That is when I knew I looked like death was inches away.

Day two I started to explore some trails by my house. Seriously, if I have to torture myself like this, there is no better place to do it then on a dirt trail with a background of the Rocky Mountains. The only downer, did I mention the lack of oxygen? But for real, the scenery is unbeatable. Day two is when I started to get discouraged. I pulled up my run on my MapMyRun app to see how far I went...only 2.8 miles and that was with the warm up, cool down, and intervals of walking. I maybe ran 1/4 of that and was struggling at a few points. That is when I discovered that even if I ran the whole distance I covered that evening (and there is no way I could have), then I still would not have completed a 5k. Let's just say, I have some work to do.

Day three went well, but it started to rain at the end so my cool down ended up being the hardest part of my run. However, I did make it inside just before the real downpour started.

This week, while I was running, I thought back to my very first year of college. I had just started dating my very first boyfriend and he asked me to go running with him at some trails near my parent's house. I was so excited, until the actual running started. My mom said that is how she knew I really liked him. In fact, I think that was the very first time I did something to impress a boy. It didn't work for long because after a few runs, I don't remember how, but the cat got out of the bag that I genuinely detested running for the sake of running. Turns out, he still wanted to date me and we went back to playing basketball and going to workout classes together instead. At 19 my parents knew I liked a boy because I voluntarily went running. Here I am again, several years later, no boy, but same desire to impress.

Officially Out of Excuses

I love the idea of running and it would be awesome to be one of those people who can just wake up on any given day and run 3 or 4 miles without it being any big deal, but the truth is, when it comes to actually physically running, I am not so much of a fan. I just don't get how this is fun. It's so boring and by the way, what is this "runner's high" people keep talking about? Is there any chance they are confusing it with cardiac arrest?

A few months ago I was talked into entering a race in the fall. To be fair, it didn't take all that much convincing. You can ask my parents, despite my best efforts for practically my entire life, I am not athletic! The problem is I just love the whole competition aspect of athletics. I love trying to out due myself (or at least the guy next to me). I love trying to see how far I can really push my body. Plus, it's nearly impossible for me to do anything half way. If it's worth doing, then it's worth doing with excellence. That being said, since I agreed to run this thing, I might as well really give it my all, invest some time, and go for it.

For the last few months I've been pretty faithful about using my pretentious gym membership. I love the classes and I can feel my strength and endurance growing every week. However, I learned a long time ago there is simply no substitutions for just getting outside and running. You can do as many Zumba classes as you want, but it doesn't make you ready for a 5K, with obstacles, in the mud, in Colorado. Did I mention there is no oxygen here?

I knew I had to start running, but how can you expect me to run without first doing some research on running plans? If I don't have a plan I could be doing it all wrong. Obviously it's going to take about a week's worth of research to find the right one. Then I needed at least another week to find the right iPhone apps so that I could track my runs and get an audible coach training me. Oh, and how am I supposed to run without one of those sweet arm bands to hold my iPhone? You can't expect me to hold it, and you can't expect me to just go buy an armband without researching them to death. You wouldn't want me to over pay for it or get one that will fall apart after the second time I used it, would you? Plus, I have small arms so I need to get one that will fit right.

Well, Saturday it arrived, the new iPhone armband, and with it I came to the end of the road with my excuses. Not to worry though, I still had a few excuses up my sleeve to get me through the weekend, but here we are at Monday and that stupid armband was just sitting there on the kitchen table making me feel all guilty and worthless. So today was the day. Today, I started.

I would love to tell you it was awesome, that it felt great, and that I found my new favorite hobby. No, actually, I felt like I was going to die about half of the time. Plus, one of my apps didn't record my run properly so I have no idea how far I made it. But no pain, no gain, right?

I just have one question. At what point does this start to become fun?