The Beginning

I'm starting this blog mostly for myself but also for anyone interested in reading about a normal person (or as normal as you can consider someone like me to be) training to run a marathon. I first started running years ago as a grad student at Arizona State University. Oddly enough, I hated running. I was a big fan of aerobics, so much so that I started teaching step aerobics, but running was never an activity I enjoyed. I started doing it because some part of me felt that doing something that was hard for me and being successful at it would make it even more rewarding. That's how it all started.
I worked up to running 5K's, mostly the Race for the Cure in whatever city I was living in. By the way, I highly recommend that race to everyone, even non-runners. After many years of running, I somehow got the idea that I wanted to run a half-marathon. It seemed crazy but what the hey. I lived in Tucson at the time so the Tucson half-marathon was an obvious choice. Plus there is the benefit that the race is almost entirely downhill. Woohoo! The first time I ran the course I was 2 months pregnant (I ran one of the Race for the Cure's when I was 6 months pregnant). I finished in 2:40 or so. The guy who won the marathon, which started 13.1 miles behind me and 30 minutes after me, beat me across the finish line by 10 minutes. ! Oh well. My goal was just to finish, not set any records, so mission accomplished. The next year I ran it again, increased my time by 10-15 minutes, and beat the marathon finisher by a few minutes. Yea!
My next goal would be to run the entire marathon. I started training and was waylaid by a hip injury. After that I had a hard time getting back into running on a regular basis. So here it is, many years later, and I'm trying to find my groove again. I'm only running short distances at the moment and haven't participated in any races for some time. I hope to rectify that soon and eventually run in the Philadelphia Marathon. I was hoping it would be this year (the race is in November) however I still have a ways to go before I'm ready for that kind of training. They just added a half-marathon course last year so perhaps I'll be up for that by the time November rolls around.
My current running routine takes me around the WCU campus where I teach. I'm hoping to get some students to run with me this fall. I'm sure they'll find my slow, lumbering pace a bit amusing but if it gets them out and running I don't mind the snickers. Besides, I'm in charge of their grades.