I just felt like running...

Well, I turned 35 this summer. And it may sound kind of silly, but this was a tough birthday for me. I realized that I was in need of a challenge. I decided that I would run a 5k. That's a good goal, right? Nice and achievable. I went to Nate and told him my plan. He thought it was great and informed me that he would ride his bike next to me, or drive behind me, but he really hates to run and didn't want to run with me. Haha. I appreciated his support. So we joined a gym, because deciding to get in shape in Phoenix in the summer is just crazy. And we were going several times a week, but I wouldn't run. I felt too stupid and knew that I wouldn't be able to run for very long. Well, one day I went for it and made it half a mile! And then I made it a mile. And pretty soon, I was running 3.2 and since I had the mileage, I promptly decided to go for a good time. And a week later I hurt my knee. Bad. Couldn't walk. Swollen. Dang! So I took a few weeks off and in the meantime we headed up to Salt Lake. I was talking to my brother about running and my goal and he threw out the idea of running a 1/2 marathon together. Love it! And then my sister wanted in. What great motivation! We got home and I started training in August. Nice and slow so my knee could heal. I'll tell you what, I've gone through knee pain, hip pain, ankle pain, muscle cramps and shin splints. But the constant emails with my brother and sister have been great. And as I continued training, something nice started to happen. Nate started running with me! And I LOVE to run with him, (even though he is a lot faster and can run longer distances. Dang him.) And we've been running our tails off and we've had great support from our girls. And in TWO weeks, we will head to Salt Lake to run our first 1/2 marathon. I'm very excited. Very nervous. And very excited. Scott has just started mentioning a full marathon next summer. We'll see...