5 whole minutes

I am running a marathon.

Not any time soon. Actually April 25th. I think I might be a little over my head. Not because I am just not sure about this whole 26.2 miles, but because of which marathon I am running. According to many reviews that I have read The Big Sur International marathon one of the more difficult courses. The famed Heartbreak Hill has 80 feet of incline, but Big Sur has a 400 foot incline. But running along the most "greatest meeting of land and sea" sounds pretty amazing.

Although at this stage in my blogging life, I am sure I have few followers, but it really was an internal struggle to write about this. According to my training book The Non-Runners Marathon Guide I should tell all of my friends and family my new goal. What if I fail? What if I lack the discipline to make myself get off the couch and lace up my tennies and hit the pavement. Thinking of a marathon is a little overwhelming.

Before I can focus on 26.2 miles, I am concentrating on 3. I am ashamed to say that these past few runs have been much more difficult than I would have imagined. At the beginning I was so frustrated. I have been exercising regularly for at least 9 months, and doing a spin class for about 5 months. But when it comes to running, I got nothing. The first week I was to run for 2 minutes, and walk for 4 repeat 4 times (30 minutes total). This was a struggle for me. My throat was burning and my heart was pounding. Each new week and additional minutes of running has been so encouraging for me. Yesterday Josh and I ran for 5 minutes x4, and it felt good. My throat was not on fire, and I never once thought "I'm not going to make it"

I did a few calculations and between now and April 25th I will have ran about 500 miles. My knees hurt just thinking about that.