In January I was compelled to start training for a full marathon.  I announced my goal here on the blog, which made me even more excited than I already was.

In May, I ran the Whiskey Row 1/2 Marathon in Prescott, Arizona knowing that the high altitude and hilly course would be a perfect training combination.  I surprised myself with a PR of 2:00 hours and I had never felt stronger.  The best part about this race was that my family was there to watch me cross the finish line.

Since then, I have run 574 miles (including a few other fun races- The Presidio 10 mile, the Live Ultimate Quarter Marathon, & Run With the Bus @ Athleta) with the Nike Women’s Marathon as the shiny, delicious carrot dangling in front of my face.

I did yoga, ab work, various workout classes, free weights and lots of running in preparation for the NWM.  My longest training run was 19 miles and I still remember that day fondly.  I got an overwhelming feeling that almost made me cry at about mile 17 and right after I finished, I called my sister to tell her that I didn’t die. 😉 The rest of the day I felt like there was nothing I couldn’t handle in life!

Naturally, when I got injured just a month before the race, I felt like all of my training had been for nothing.  But, what I have come to see is that all of the training was actually everything.  I have learned so many things along the way and I have fallen madly in love with running.

I know that my day to run a full marathon will come.  I also know that I will never take my health for granted.  I attended the NWM expo on Thursday night with my friend who is running the 1/2 & promised myself I wouldn’t cry (she is a total sweetheart and brought the most delicious dark chocolate covered fig paste concoction to soothe my injury soul… love her!)  We had a blast at the Expo and it made me SO excited for all of the future races!

GOOD LUCK to everyone running tomorrow!!!  Run a mile for me 😉

XO,

CS