Day 246

One more fitness goal for the year...

Run a 1/2 marathon before December 31.

"Why on earth would you want to do that?" my husband keeps asking.

I don't know really. I think the biggest reason is that I want one of those damn "13.1" stickers on my car...I'll be honest- for the longest time I had no idea what that number meant. At one point I was convinced it signified a verse from The Bible...Yeah, it doesn't.

Tonight was my first round of training for this new adventure. Of course, there are lists and spreadsheets involved (of course!), as I plan out how long and far I need to run each week to prepare. Traditionally, it takes 14-18 weeks to train for a half-marathon (at least that's what Google told me...).

I have about 9 weeks.

The good news is, my body is already used to endurance activity for two hours at a time, so I am hopeful I can slide into the training plan without too much grief. This weekend will be the true test. That's when I am supposed to do a 9 mile run...

Ugh.

Anyway, if I don't die or throw up doing that, then I will most likely officially sign up for a race. In the mean time, I am following the plan and have reverted back to my no-ice-cream-white-bread-or-potato diet. Which is truly a shame because there really is some excellent ice cream out there...

I received a gift today that was perfect timing for my transition to pavement pounding. One of the nurses on my unit gave me new running socks as a thank-you for writing her a letter of recommendation. She is a runner as well, and we have always enjoyed bouncing ideas and progress off of each other. It was almost a little silly how excited I was about socks. I guess now I know where my 11-year old gets it from...

But these are no ordinary socks. They are "hash-tag"socks. Each pair has a cute saying on the side, precluded by the ever-popular hash-tag sign. I picked out the pair that matched my outfit (duh) and hit the track with a spring in my step.

Tonight's pic represents starting towards a new goal, and thankfulness for friends that know you well enough to buy you socks as a present!