"Know why he could do it? Because no one ever told him he couldn't....

... No one ever told him he oughta be off dying somewhere in an old age home. You live up to your own expectations, man." - Born to Run.

On Saturday, during my long run, I finished "Born to Run". My friend, Dave lent it to me a long time ago, and I finally started reading it. I also downloaded an audio copy so that I could listen to it on my long runs while I was running by myself - I thought that it would be a distraction. I knew that once I could actually get around to reading this book that I would undoubtedly like it, but I never realized how much it would resonate with me. The quote from above is found in chapter 7. It was about a 95 year old man who went hiking into the Barrancas, in the Tarahumara mountains. I came across this part in the book a few weeks ago on my long run of 7 miles and it has stuck with me ever since. 

For the past few months, I have had the desire to run a marathon this year. I turned 26 in July, and thought it would be perfect - 26.2 in my 26th year. However, most everybody has had an opinion about why I should NOT do this. Even my husband, who believes that I should work on my times with the half marathon first, and then progress with longer distances if I want to. (Though I can't be really upset with him for this opinion - because he is the one waiting a very long time for me to finish). I know that I am responsible for my own thoughts and actions, but these expressed hesitations cause me to doubt myself - maybe they are right.. maybe I should work on my pace to at least get to a 10 minute mile.. maybe I should get to my goal weight first and THEN try to train for a marathon (my pace should naturally improve then, right?).. maybe I should do a few more half marathons before I try doing this. That seems reasonable... right? 

Wrong. What if I never get faster? What if I never reach my goal weight? What if I spend all this time waiting to do something that I want to do and can't because I die, or get injured to the point where I cannot even walk. What if I spend so long waiting for the perfect time to live my life, that I never actually get to accomplish something that I badly want to accomplish. So, I am going to do it.. I am going to train and run a marathon. Now I just need to find one - I'm thinking about towards the end of May. This way I have plenty of time to train for it safely, without it being insanely humid (I shall hope). 

26.2 miles.. whoa that is scary.. But 9.45 miles this past weekend was scary. I keep surprising myself each week that I am able to do these long training runs. Even though I completed a half last year, this is the longest run without walking breaks that I have ever done. We have 11.65 on the plate this Saturday and I'm not going to lie - I'm a little nervous, but I know that I can do it. I also know that I can do 26.2. I couldn't go out and run it this very minute, but I know that I can do it in May.