As my time in Europe winds down and I prepare to say good-bye to my primary blogging focus for the past four months, I figured I’d restart things here with a bang in the form of a semi-major life announcement.  (For a second there I was going to make this next sentence have something to do with pregnancy, but then realized absolutely no one in my life would find that funny.)  About a month ago, a friend and I registered to run a half marathon in October!  Perhaps some of you just fell off your chairs in disbelief, others laughed out loud, and yet the majority of you who are Facebook friends with Emilee and I knew this was coming (and have been entertained by our “I’ll start my training to become a distance runner just as soon as I polish off this last case of beer” wall posts.)

In gym class, I DREADED running the timed half mile because what I was lacked in self-esteem, I made up for in body fat.  We always had to run in soccer, and around junior year my friend Savannah and I got the brilliant idea to join the cross-country team.  She made it through the season, I only went to the first informational meeting.  In sophomore year of college, I’d get into running for a week or two, but hangovers always trumped any fleeting motivation to jack up the ol’ heart rate.  So what makes you think you can run a half-marathon then, kid? Simply put, I really do like running.  Like, love running.  I’ve made it enough of a habit in the past weeks that it’s something I automatically fit into my day.  I’ve actually called it a night early a few times, knowing that I wanted to get up before class and run.  Mentally, it puts me in a very healthy place, not to mention there’s near-instant gratification from week to week in terms of noticeable improvement (distance, speed, etc.)  I’d thought about running a race for a while, NEVER a marathon, but kept going back to 13.1 miles as a challenging but do-able distance.  Impulsive ol’ me didn’t sign up automatically, but actually put some thought into this decision and read up on training plans before submitting my official registration (and checked to make sure the Hawkeyes are playing an away game that weekend.)

So, in addition to whatever riveting fodder I post in the coming months, get ready for some pre-race thoughts (that, let’s just be honest, might be better categorized as outright bitching.)  I’ve already had two dreams about it, and welcome any and all persons to get motivated, by what you might now feel is my complete loss of sanity, to sign up with me!