Let's Start at the Very Beginning...

A very good place to start! When you read you begin with...

Sorry I broke into song for a moment there. The beginning. February.

The initial inspiration for running was my friend Billie asking me to run a Disney World race with her. The original plan was to be the Tower of Terror 10 Miler but due to a scheduling conflict (which has since been resolved, thanks for that, universe...) we switched it up to the Wine and Dine half marathon. Once that had been decided I posted this to my facebook:

So... I've never been good at running. I get winded walking in to my desk from the parking lot at work. Anyone want to give me encouragement? Runners, how "bad" were you when you started? Is there any hope I can go from "couch to half marathon" before November?

I got a few responses, such as this from Caitlynne: 

It's not hard. Start for a month at planet fitness fast walking on the elliptical and build from there. When it gets nice out start jogging outside in short bursts for a couple minutes at a time but pace yourself so you don't feel like you're dying. After a while you'll notice you can breath still and go further and you'll be mad. The reason you'll be mad is you won't have a reason to stop because you won't get out of breath before your legs get tired. Then you'll just be confused lol. Hope I helped!

And this from Matt:

Go to bodybuilding.com Look up their workouts. They are all done by professionals. HIIT training is a great way to work up quickly. Its mostly diet and determination though. You need to be willing to push yourself. STRETCH and drink lots of water. Eat more protein to give your muscles something to recover with. Eat high potassium foods like coconut, almonds and bananas. Remember for a marathon you are looking to increase endurance. So look up endurance training regimens. Good luck and you can def do it!

With that kind of encouragement, I figured that it must be possible! I'll admit I do often think back to Caitlynne's comment and think, "I'm still waiting to feel like I'm not dying, and my legs are still tired before I leave my own block... when will I get to this magical "won't get out of breath" stage?!?!" In addition to this, my dad also got me in contact with his marathon running friend Dave, who I have since called my "coach." He sent me a link for a 20 week training schedule. That's what I've been trying so hard to stick to, but I'm afraid with my injuries (again, those stories to come later!) I may have to adapt to the 16 or 12 week training schedules. I got myself a $1 calendar book from Michaels and dug around my parents house until I found enough Lisa Frank stickers that I could give myself one every time I completed a running goal. Ah, the best of intentions. I don't think I've used those stickers since maybe week 4 when I started to be sidelined by injury. But hey, if you can motivate yourself with stickers as well, DO IT! It's so colorful and fun!

My starting weight was 157. I didn't take any measurements then, though I probably should have. My initial concerns were all about the lungs. As I mentioned in my introductory post, I'm not an athletic type of person. The closest I've ever come to a sport was figure skating. I did that up till about the single jump level and then called it quits. Waltz jumps were fun, but add in a toe loop? Well that's just getting complicated. And for my first run I was right about the lungs. I ran for about a minute and thirty seconds on my moms treadmill and had to stop it and lay on the floor panting. Pant pant pant... it was so sexy, let me tell you. Of course, I filmed myself doing this as well. Vlogging about running, what was I thinking?!?! Blogs are so much cooler. I managed to get myself up after a bit and continued on with my workout. "Gonna run the race, gonna get the medal!" was my mantra that first day. It was a joke between Billie and I in reference to Wreck It Ralph. "It was hard, but I think I can do this!" I told myself. Oh silly me, so optimistic! Just you wait! Please don't get me wrong. Starting a new endeavor like this, it does help to be positive. But if I'd only known what was coming...