I Don't Think I Can...I know I Can! I Think

Most people who know me know how I feel about running.  I've never been able to run well or fast.  For a long time I truly believed that if someone was coming after me with a huge butcher knife I would just lay down and let him kill me before I ran from him.

I have a friend who was contemplating a run.  She, along with a bunch of others we know, are planning to do the Rock 'n Roll half/full Marathon in November.  We were talking, going back and forth, about what she should do for at least 20 minute when I blurted out, "If you do it, I'll do it to!"  I stunned myself and thought, "oh no, what did I just get myself into?"

Here I am committing to  a half marathon when running is an absolute weakness of mine...yikes!  I've walked a 5k and 10k a couple of times; I even ran a 5k in October of 2010, it took just under 45 minutes, but I ran it and was thrilled beyond  belief.  After that, I decided my running career was over haha.

So now that I made a commitment to a friend how to I get out of this?  I don't, I can't!  I have just under 6 months to prepare for this...that's plenty of time, right?  Sure it is. 

I told Brent all about how I committed to what seems like the impossible.  We talked about it briefly and I said to him, "I may be asking you for a running plan soon."  That was pretty much it, we didn't talk anymore about it.

Days later, during my one on one training, Brent said we are going to start training for your run today.  Today? Really?  Well ok.  I was reluctantly excited about it, but excited none the less.  I'm pretty sure my nervous giggle may have even presented itself.  He explained to me how we would approach the training and what i would need to do outside of our regular training sessions.  Most importantly I would have to get my eating back on track and be consistent with it!

After the training session I thought about a lot of things.  I was trying to figure out why all of a sudden this run doesn't seem impossible like it did when I first committed to it.  I came up with a couple of answers.   One being more positive about running. I am working hard at not saying, "I hate running".  I've decided that when I am running I'm going to fill my empty little head with happy thoughts.  Imagery works well to for me.  During runs I plan to imagine myself running an actual race and I picture myself crossing the finish line with the most important people in my life standing there waiting for me.  Imagining this actually makes me cry haha.  Mostly, while running, I will be praying.  It amazes me how much that will help.

But the thing that got me most and made me feel confident about being able to complete a half marathon was when Brent went right into training me.  He told me what he expected of me, what I needed to do, and what I really needed to focus on right now.  I thought to myself, "He truly believes I can do this!"  The crazy thing, to me anyway, was that it wasn't his words this time that convinced me, it was his actions.  For the first time I felt like I didn't need to be convinced with words.  There was no reason to talk or stress about it for days.  It was so simple...I made a commitment to a friend, he knows I need help training for it, and now I'm training AND I feel pretty good about it!  My plan was to not say a word about this to anyone.  I have this amazing ability to want to do something so bad and just quit.  I really dislike that about myself.  But I've told a few people and received some great feedback.

I have no doubt that if I follow Brent's lead, be consistent, and stay on track with my eating, I WILL finish this run!

So, for the next few months, you'll be reading about a a girl, who used to hate running, and her journey to the "Start" of a half marathon.