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??
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.
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.
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 :)
