The 5 mile mark

Today I ran 5 miles.  My goal was to run it in under 1 hour. I came in at 59 minutes and 23 seconds. The last half mile was at a gut wrenching speed because God forbid I not make my goal.  So I practically killed myself to do it. For the record I feel like I have no idea what I am doing.  I signed up for the LA Marathon (26.2 miles---yes, I am probably crazy) last week.  I've only been running for a couple of months.

One time I ran 8 miles. Maybe because I wanted to see if I could do it. Or maybe I wanted to see if I couldn't.  I felt amazing afterward. Like I could do anything...even though my legs felt like perfectly cooked spaghetti. I wobbled over to the car where my husband was waiting with our kiddos.  "Tracy Morgan just said I ran a 10k!" I exclaimed to them. At this point I had no idea how far a 10k even was (6.2 miles I think?)  I was just thrilled to have done one.  And found it funny that via my Nike app on the iphone I was able to get props from Tracy himself.  It was, and still is, the furthest I have ever run.

So what gives me the idea that I can go a whopping 26.2? I don't know.  What I do know is that I can't think of one good solid reason why I can't run that far.  Sure, I can think of a million excuses why I shouldn't be able to....I have 3 kids ages 14, 8 and 19 months.  I've never run an actual race. I have a full time job that I am currently on workers comp for and will have to return to at any moment.  (which means this dream of having time on my hands that I can spend running is almost over)  My husband and I work opposite schedules so that we don't have to pony up the dough for daycare.  This means I am at work by 4am on two of my work days. On those days he doesn't get home until after 10pm.  So hello up at 3am and alone until 11pm with all 3 kids! These are all great excuses.  And some days I will probably be tempted to use them.  But I don't care. I am going to run that damn race. If for no other reason then I can. I KNOW I can.

Now if I could just figure out what the hell it's gonna take to get me in shape enough to make that happen.  Maybe a trip to the bookstore is in order (Books! That's what got me into this mess in the first place!)  Do they have "Running a Marathon for Dummies" book? That would suit me well, I think.