<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'?><?xml-stylesheet href="http://www.blogger.com/styles/atom.css" type="text/css"?><feed xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom' xmlns:openSearch='http://a9.com/-/spec/opensearchrss/1.0/' xmlns:georss='http://www.georss.org/georss' xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2070699525459643591</id><updated>2012-02-16T02:20:52.281-08:00</updated><title type='text'>Marathon Hopeful</title><subtitle type='html'></subtitle><link rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#feed' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://leslief44.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2070699525459643591/posts/default?max-results=100'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://leslief44.blogspot.com/'/><link rel='hub' href='http://pubsubhubbub.appspot.com/'/><author><name>Leslief44</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><generator version='7.00' uri='http://www.blogger.com'>Blogger</generator><openSearch:totalResults>1</openSearch:totalResults><openSearch:startIndex>1</openSearch:startIndex><openSearch:itemsPerPage>100</openSearch:itemsPerPage><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2070699525459643591.post-6645103851980910194</id><published>2007-04-10T10:34:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2007-04-10T10:52:31.654-07:00</updated><title type='text'>Why blog?</title><content type='html'>I have never had the desire to blog before because I really don't like writing too much... so why?  I started running a couple of years ago, but only 1-2 miles at the most, and with no desire to exceed that distance.  In 2005 I ran in the Komen Foundation Race For the Cure, a 5k race.  I think the excitement of this race and the feeling of accomplishment is what gave me the buzz.  That same year a friend of mine completed the Chicago marathon in October.  I was very impressed and envious.  My first thought was, "I want to do that!"  My dad ran marathons when I was younger, so maybe the desire is in my blood??&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Anyway, I started slowly increasing the distance of my runs in early 2006, wondering if I would be able to ever complete a marathon.  I decided that if I could do a half, then I would have the encouragement that maybe I could do the full 26.2.  I had problems with my IT band that wouldn't let up, so I stopped last year with my farthest run around 5-6 miles.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;With the IT band problem gone, I decided to try for the St. Louis half-marathon this year and began training in mid-January.  I was feeling very encouraged when I reached 9 miles by late February, but started having pain in my right hip.  I literally only mentioned this to my doc, and with his fear of a possible stress fracture of the femur, had to stop running and endure (as in financially endure) several tests.  3-4 weeks of no running later, everything was fine and I could run again with only 3 weeks to the race.  I had made it up to 9 miles, so I figured I should still be able to run.  Now it is the week before and I have run pain-free up until 2 days ago, so I am worried, but hoping for the best.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;So- why blog?  Well I was on completerunning.com reading their 101 running tips and when I got to #12 - "Don’t neglect and irritate your family and friends by spending all your time running and talking about running" I felt a little guilty about how much i've been talking about running with my partner, friends and family. So- hopefully this will shut me up a bit :)&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2070699525459643591-6645103851980910194?l=leslief44.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://leslief44.blogspot.com/feeds/6645103851980910194/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=2070699525459643591&amp;postID=6645103851980910194' title='1 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2070699525459643591/posts/default/6645103851980910194'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/2070699525459643591/posts/default/6645103851980910194'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://leslief44.blogspot.com/2007/04/why-blog.html' title='Why blog?'/><author><name>Leslief44</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>1</thr:total></entry></feed>
