It's going to be worth it

Six weeks. That's it. Six short weeks. And its scary. 

Six weeks from today I will be running my first half marathon.

I know so many people who have tried, and conquered, the half-marathon. And so the fact that is freaks me out makes me feel a little ridiculous. I mean, its not like I am trying to run the whole marathon. Just half. 

But this is something new and different for me. I have never been an athlete. I always wanted to be an athlete. But I am not the most athletic person. I played basketball in elementary school (and passed the ball as soon as I got it), I played volleyball in MS (and loved it, was pretty good, but didn't believe in myself enough to do it in HS) and I was on the swim team in HS (I was not competitive, but I tried). And it wasn't until I was out of college that I found running. And the great thing about running is you are just trying to beat yourself. And nobody really cares where you finish, as long as you finish. And that is why I get up and run. To take it one step at a time until I reach my goal of 13.1 miles. 

And so far things are going well. But I have trained to 7 miles before. I know I can do 7 miles, on a Saturday morning, alone. That much I know. 

What I do not know is if I can run 8 miles in the hills of Bridgeport. Or 9 miles around White Rock Lake. Or 10 miles around Celebration Park. Or 13.1 around the sheets of Dallas. And its the unknown that scares me. 

And it is just going to get harder from here. I am tired. All the time. And it might not be all due to the fact that I am running 20 miles a week, but that is definitely a factor. 

 Long runs have been good, its the miles in between that get harder and harder to do. 4.5 miles on Monday mornings aren't easy. The 3 miles on Tuesdays ALWAYS feels like at least 6. And the 4.5 miles on Wednesdays are torture. 

I saw this quote on Friday and I immediatly thought about my half-marathon adeventure..."i'm not telling you it's going to be easy, i'm telling you its going to be worth it."

With this quote in the back of my head, I will continue doing what I am doing. And perhaps six weeks from today I will have completed my first half-marathon. And EVERYONE will be invited to the celebration afterwords because it's going to be worth it.