Why are you people chasing me?

I still can't believe I signed up (and paid money) to have people chase me down for 13.1 miles (this is assuming I don't end up dead last). What was I thinking? I honestly have no clue, but I am so pumped. A few weeks ago, my good friend Lacey called me up to see if I'd be interested in running the Disneyland half marathon with her. Bottom line, if it involves Disneyland you really don't have to ask me twice (I don't know if I even heard the half marathon part). When we found out the race was sold out already, we started thinking...do we want to run a big race, even if it doesn't involve Mickey Mouse? As I've been trying to find a way to help me reach some fitness/health goals I've been working towards, I started thinking that signing up for something with a buddy might help me stay accountable and keep me motivated. We did some searching on halfmarathons.net (which has comprehensive lists of races by state and month) and decided to combine our fitness goal with a vacation. We settled on a weekend in California for the Malibu International Marathon (and half).

We decided we'll spend a day in Disneyland (so Mickey can still be involved...win win), a day in Malibu mentally preparing (AKA eating/shopping/laying on the beach), and Sunday, Nov. 11th, we'll be running 13.1 miles down the beautiful Malibu coast. Anyone who knows me knows I've never EVER been a runner. I was a competitive soccer player from 4th grade through high school and was quite fit when I graduated. Never super skinny (and never great at running long distances) but fit and strong. Fast forward almost 7 years (oh my God, I can't believe I just typed that), thirty or so odd pounds, a bachelor's degree, and a wedding later, I'm not quite the spry soccer player I used to be. I miss feeling strong. And I miss being outside all the time (my favorite thing about playing soccer). So now I'm on my way back and so far it feels really good. 

My running buddy.

I'm on a running budget (like most of my fellow grad school folk), so when it came to gear I decided to stick to the basics. My ankles pronate quite a bit and I need a really supportive running shoes, so I was extremely pleased to find a great pair on sale at a local running shop. I also hit up Marshall's for some running headphones (ear buds + running = no good for me), a new sports bra, and a running tee.

I've seen some hilarious Nike running tees online and these are the ones I found at Marshall's (last one I found online). I think I really might have to purchase this last one. 

via

At this point I'm working up to running ~3 miles straight (around 30 minutes of running), which is pretty baseline for half marathon training. Once I achieve this (hopefully by April), I'll dive into adding milage onto a few runs a week. I'm part way through this book and I'm loving it. This sounds corny, but I really am starting to think I can do it. :)

My kind of thinking...

I'm really looking forward to this journey and I'm starting to feel a change already. At the end of each run I feel a little stronger than I did before. And we have enough time that I don't feel too rushed. As they say, slow and steady wins the race. 

Send me your good workout vibes (or if you've done this before, your advice)!

XO,

Ash