The Unexpected Runner: 592 Miles to lofty goals.

I never was a runner. In fact, if you asked anyone who’s ever known me for a long time, they would say that if they ever had the occasion to witness me running, they would have looked for whatever was chasing me!  My husband has always been a runner & made it look easy…must be his military roots. I have been supportive of his running but always half-assed in my attempts at running and never, I mean never, did it ever occur to me that I would get to a place that I would (gasp!) ENJOY the run or make a personal goal to run a marathon.  In fact, I used to swear in my head the whole time I was suffering to get to the next street lamp! But here I am.  It is January of 2011 & I am 41 years old, the mother of 2 boys, a nurse & I have not only decided, but REGISTERED!! to run a marathon.  But there it is...I have.  How did I get here?  Well, it started as a lark really...there was a triathlon training group starting at our gym & I thought "Hey, why not?  I can swim & bike no problem....surely I can suck up a 3 mile run in the interest of togetherness?" So, my husband and I sign up for this triathlon. I'm not quite sure exactly when it happened, but low & behold, I started to actually LIKE getting out there to run!  And from there it was a slippery slope into obsession.....a 592 mile obsession this year.  Yes, that's right.  In 2010, I logged 592.3 miles to be exact. Along with 1 triathalon & 2 half-marathons.  Now, let me set the record straight: I am not by any stretch of the imagination fast....far from it.  I am like a turtle out on the streets.  But I'm running.  So fast forward to today & I have decided to take the marathon plunge.  October 2nd, 2011 is the date & this is the record of my journey toward it.