The Cat is out of the Bag - I'm Running a FULL Marathon!

OHMIGOSH!  Omigosh!  OMG!  I am doing a FULL Marathon!  That means for 26.2 miles and maybe close to 6 hours, I am running.  Running.  And Running.  This is what crazy people do right?

Okay, backing up!  I have done a lot since I have started running.  Ready for the list?  Here goes:

Girls on the Go 5K
Scripps Old Pros 10K 2013 & 2014
Bolt to the Q 5K
Silver Strand 10 Miler
Iron Girl 10K
Carlsbad Half
Mermaid Run 5K
Women's Half Marathon
Autism 5K
Hot Chocolate 15K
Epilepsy 5K
La Jolla Half Marathon
Rock n Roll Half Marathon

Phew!  By the end of August, I will have received my Triple Crown status!

I wanted to know what was next.  Could I do it?  Could I do a full Marathon?  My friend Julie and I have been talking about completing a marathon before we turn 40 in 2017!  Why not 2015?  So I turned to my fellow Bloggers and asked for advice.

First, Dawn at Runner Girl Dawn.  Her advice to me was to just do it.  "For me the only way to get there is to set a goal and hold myself accountable."

Next up is Lauren at Breathe Deeply and Smile.  She chased the dream and that was her advice to me too.  When she ran her 4th Half, she knew this was the next step and she crossed her first Full finish line at the Baltimore Marathon.

Rachel at Running Rachel was encouraged by her husband to run the Full after running over 20 miles in a single weekend with Ragnar SoCal.  So she thought, why not?  If he believes in me, I can believe in me.

Tamsyn at Fat Girl to Ironman decided to run a Marathon after her running buddy got into the London Marathon lottery (DREAM!!!!) and helped her train.  She used that training to enter her own Marathon.

Erica from Erica Finds did her first marathon on a dare!  Seriously!  The San Francisco Marathon.  If you don't know, it is super HILLY!  And she was FAST!  Read her account here.  It is highly entertaining!

Erika at MCM Mama Runs's first Marathon was as a result of an off the cuff comment to a friend that she was going to run the marine Corps Marathon one day.  And she did.  That next year!

Perhaps some of my favorite advice came from Lauren at Run Salt Run.  She said, "DO IT!  You won't regret it.  Training for and running a marathon is one of the hardest things I've ever done in my life, but also an experience that I am going to hold very dear to my heart forever!"  How can you not want to run a marathon after that?   Lauren actually signed up for her Full before even running her first Half!

And Steffany at Run Steff Run has a similar story to mine.  She wanted to complete her first Marathon by the time she turned 26.  Get it?  26 miles by 26?  Brilliant!  She says she knew she was ready to run her first full after her first month of half marathon training. "I loved going out and running a crazy amount of miles."

Source

So, where does that leave me?  You may find it interesting to know that I asked these ladies to help me out with my decision on May 27th.  We are now in August.  This is how long my body took to convince my mind I CAN do 26.2 miles, a feat that just one year ago I thought psychotic insane asinine IMPOSSIBLE!

It also took the extremely persuasive skills of Shane, Kat and Sarah!  I just had to pick a Marathon.  And I wanted Julie to do it with me.  I am NOT doing those 20 mile training runs on my own.  Long story short, we picked this marathon

because of this!

14.1% of the Marathon runners in 2014 qualified for the Boston Marathon here.  And the great Emz Eliason will be there.  And she has a coupon code RUNEMZ10 which gets you $10 off.

So...do you have a Marathon story?  I am apologizing in advance for all the craziness bad words grumbling moaning and groaning you will see here in the next few months.  But it will all be worth it.  Right?!  RIGHT?!  

As always, I wish you Happy Feet,

SD Mom