On your mark, get set, go....

 I always love the question, "Have you been running long?" Perhaps what I love even more than answering "No, I just started six months ago" is the facial expression that always follows.  It just feels good. I was the girl in high school that couldn't run for ten seconds, let alone the required mile. (How I made the volley ball team, I still don't know.) And now? I run every chance I get. It is the cheapest (and most effective) therapy I have ever tired, and is the most legal high out there.  Without it, I simply don't like the person that I am. Those seemingly endless miles and blazing summer days are secretly doing me a favor and although our love/hate relationship doesn't always reflect that, it couldn't be anymore true.

 Im building up for a half marathon. Wait, what? A.Half. Marathon. No matter how many times I say it, write it, think it, it never seems real enough. Something tells me that somewhere around mile ten of the actual event it might start to sink in. (Hopefully.) At one point, before the summer heat sucked the life out of me and a slight ankle injury brought me down to an insulting 2-3 miles, I had my "long runs" built up to the required 13.1 miles. I planned to keep going. Well, I found that theres a slight glitch in planning; it doesn't always work out. And now? with a little more than a month before this run, I'm slowly building my milage back up and tearing down my speed in the process. Im having a really hard time choosing between speed and high miles.. Im learning the hard way that you can't have both.  At least not yet, anyways ;)

 While Im running, every day feels like something new - even if it's really no different then the one before. Im learning to respect my body for its limitations and to be grateful for the abilities that it possess. I set a reasonable milage goal and tell myself that every extra mile is a gift. And really, it is. Its those extra miles, no matter how few they may seem, that make me the most proud of my effort. Running makes me do something that up until now could never do; listen to myself. Having all that time alone and in my own head has made me realize that maybe I'm not half bad after all =p

 I have high hopes for this blog - mainly to keep myself motivated (and busy, my girlfriend of three years just started med school..) but to also open up my world to others. Running at times can be a very isolating sport. This is my way of putting my heart, which could easily double as and even be mistaken for running shoes, on my sleeve. It's not always pretty, but I wouldn't have it any other way.

 Who doesn't love running stats? 

Current races finished to date : 7

                Upcoming: 3 (10k, 5k & a Half marathon)

Personal bests: 

5k- 24:04

5mile - 42:30