First posting

I never thought I would have any reason to start a blog, but I was recently inspired by ultra marathon runner Anton Krupicka, who writes about his training runs in Boulder Colorado.  For some reason, the thought of being able to run 100 miles is very exciting to me, but as someone who has been only moderately athletic throughout my life, it's probably an unrealistic goal.  So let me just start with the marathon, which in and of itself is a major achievement.

I was a chubby, unathletic kid.  I frequently was one of the slowest kids in my elementary school class during the mile run usually finishing around 15 minutes.  Even then, I recall telling my classmate that I wanted to run the fastest mile in the world.

While I don't think a sub 4 minute mile is in my future, a marathon may actually be within my reach.  I have been running on and off since high school during which I played volleyball.  I ran to train for volleyball primarily, but once I came to college, I could no longer play due to injuries.  I set a goal to run a half marathon when I was in high school.  Between 2007 and 2011, I started working towards this goal many times only to find myself petering out or getting injured.  Finally, in January 2011, I paid the entrance fee for the Santa Barbara Wine Country half marathon in May, and apparently that was the push I needed.  I completed my first half marathon in May 2011 in 2:19.  It is now March 27th, 2012 and I have completed 4 half marathons.  I have yet to improve on my time with my average being around 2:20.

As I begin the blog, I will state two main goals to achieve before the end of 2012:

1) improve on my half marathon time
2) run a full marathon

And some additional (but equally important) goals to begin in the coming weeks:

1) increase mileage to 40 miles per week (I'm currently around 20)
2) add barefoot running into training
3) begin trail running on the weekends
4) run 5 days per week

The purpose of this blog is to discuss the many ideas I have about running and exercise in general in terms of what it does for my mind and body, and to do so in the context of training for a marathon.  The biggest hurdle that I can forsee is maintaining motivation.  Currently, I am feeling very inspired, but as I begin to pile on miles, I'm afraid I will lose some of that motivation.  Perhaps by documenting it here, I can hang on to it and keep pushing myself.

The last run I completed was Sunday 3/25 at the Oakland running festival.  I completed 13.1 miles in 2:24.  Since then my hamstring has been bothering me, so I will take a few days off until it feels 100% recovered.