Hello!

Welcome to my little corner of the internet! I’m a full-time working mom of two boys, two dogs, and three cats and somehow, between the chaos of meetings, school pickups, soccer dropoffs, stepping on stray LEGO pieces and tripping over dog toys, I’ve decided that running 13.1 miles sounds like a fun idea. Welcome to my blog, where I’ll be documenting this wild journey from being a brand new runner to (hopefully) crossing the finish line of a half marathon in November….and trying not to die in the process.

Now, let’s get one thing straight, I have a complicated relationship with running. Always have. We’re kind of like those friends who pretend to like each other at parties but secretly roll our eyes when the other turns around. I’ve done some casual running in the past (translation: I’ve jogged after a toddler or a runaway grocery cart), but this is my first time actually training for something official. And boy, is it a rollercoaster.

In this blog, you’ll get a front-row seat to all my struggles, including:

• The Battle of Waking Up Early: Why does every running plan insist on starting at 5am? Other hours of the day were created for a reason.
• Learning All the Gear: Apparently, you need more than just sneakers. Who knew running required an entire wardrobe overhaul?
• Running Lingo Decoded: PRs, tempo runs, negative splits – I didn’t realize I would have to Duolingo my way to becoming a runner.
• Meeting Fellow Runners: Spoiler: The running community, I’m discovering, is incredibly supportive and encouraging! I walked (ran?) in thinking I would be elbowed out of the way to finish lines but the folks I’ve met so far have done nothing but hype me up. HAVE I FOUND MY PEOPLE?

So why am I doing this? Well, besides my lifelong ambition to become the person who has to stretch in public (very glamorous), I wanted to challenge myself in a way that involves more sweat than just the usual “oh no, I forgot to set my alarm” panic. I’ve always been an active person but this particular kind of torture is unexplored territory for me. Some people aspire to go to space – my aspirations more resemble those of a beached whale trying to get back into the water after being washed ashore.

Throughout this blog, you’ll find my attempts to outrun my own shadow, tips on how to prevent my shoelaces from tying themselves into knots (it’s already happened twice) and stories of how I had to verbally accost my own stomach to “get it together!” so I didn’t have to do a sweaty walk (waddle?) of shame to a port-a-potty.

So if you’re interested, join me for the ride – or the run, in this case – and let’s see if I can turn this love/hate relationship with running into something that resembles… survival? Either way, it’ll be an adventure where the only thing I’m training harder than my legs is my ability to make excuses!

Who knows? Maybe we’ll even make running look fun!