Day 150 - Decisions

Today I made probably the second craziest decision in my life (the first being to pack up my entire life and move to Boston on a whim...):

to run the St. Jude Memphis Half Marathon on December 4, 2010.

What makes this a such a crazy decision? I don't run... unless I'm being chased.

I used to run. For a few years in high school I ran a couple miles a day. I LOVED it. But the college happened and between classes, parties and general hanging out, I stopped running. Ever since, I have come up with every single excuse as to why I don't run anymore. I'm too busy, too out of shape, too heavy, too tired, too sick... the list keeps going and going. That was 7 years and I don't even want to mention how many pounds ago.

I turned 27 this year, and it was a rude awakening. I am nowhere I thought I would be at 27... not anywhere close. I left school with about a semester, maybe 2, left to make a change in my life. I moved 1500 miles across the US from Memphis to Boston. I loved my time in Boston, but I ended up moving home a year later. Since then I have been living in Wichita, working at the same place for 3 years.

I have gotten stuck. Stuck in the monotony of life, work, bills, debt and obligations. On days off, I just want to sit on my couch and watch a film, read a book or play a video game. I should clean my apartment, work out, do laundry, work on my photography... I can list 14 dozen other things I SHOULD be doing with my time... but I never want to.

So I decided today that I would attempt to un-stick myself by going from a movie watching, video game playing slacker to a half marathon runner by December 4, 2010... from naught to 13.1 miles in 150 days. My goal: to not only complete the half-marathon in the time allotted, but by completing this, find some part of the person I used to be...

On the advice of two high school mates (one who has completed the IronMan... Trish, you are a goddess), I have downloaded Hal Higdon's half marathon training schedule, which is a 12 weeks program. Day 1 is "Run 3 miles." Riiiiight. So I'm starting small. I have 6 weeks to get to Day 1 of Hal Higdon's training schedule.

Tomorrow starts Training: Phase 1.


Let's hope I don't die or something... death is good to avoid.