Running Scared

My husband wants to run a marathon. And I agreed to run one in moral support with him. It's 26.2 freaking miles. I could not, in good conscience, let the guy run it alone. Not to mention it totally and completely sang to my dreams of dropping the twin weight, being healthy for my kids and most importantly, not sucking wind during a game of catch with a two year old.  Let's get one thing clear first. I am not a runner. The only thing I have ever been known to run towards is a good shoe sale. So marathon training? I might as well have announced that I'd just gone from never taking the stairs to preparing an Everest summit attack. 

I started my running. Not pretty. But slowly, surely, I've been finding I like it. I committed enough to actually purchase cold weather running gear and map out winter running routes.  Me. The non-runner. Actually planning runs in the dead of winter to train for a race a year away instead of sitting by the fire sipping cocoa, coloring with my children. What's wrong with me?

We also developed a strategy playing on the psychology that the more people we tell, the more committed we become and the greater the follow through. And, it's working. I run when I say I am going to run just so I don't have to admit I didn't. Hence my here and now commitment to the 5 am run. 

The challenging part, as always, is finding the time to train with three small children.  We just got accepted into our first race via a lottery system. A ten miler with a strict race finish time - 2 hours and 20 minutes. If you aren't pulling a sub 14 minute mile, they pull you from the race. Yikes! Nothing like setting the bar high for your very first race. You can't throw wee ones in the stroller in the dead of winter and go for a jaunt, especially in my ear infection prone household. Therefore, no joint training in my household seems likely prior to race day. Double Yikes!

All in all, it can't be that bad. I've tackled the first run, first hill, first cold weather run. I've registered for the first race. I have plenty of support. I just have to keep moving. And sometimes moving is the hardest part.