A half has never felt so huge

Other than a brief spell in University, I have never enjoyed running or considered myself a runner. Running was something I did to train for basketball or boxing, but I never pushed myself for more than 30 minutes and never had the desire to go faster or further. In fall 2010, with one year to go before the wedding, I started running with a friend twice a week. Our distances began to increase and we set the goal of running a half marathon in the spring.

Running a half scares me so much, it's a mental thing. In my mind, it's a long distance (read 23 km!! aka 13 miles) and the ability to do it seems so far off. But bit-by-bit we increased our distances and the goal seemed so attainable. Just when I was finally starting to enjoy running, I ended up injuring my hip to the point where I couldn't walk up the stairs in my house. Couple this with my running-buddy getting pregnant, the goal died and spring came and went.

I did get in shape for the wedding thanks to the South Beach Diet (I won't blog about it... but it worked, I lost 25lbs before the wedding) and boxing/running twice a week - but I never got back to loving running.

Once we were home from our honeymoon I wanted to maintain my weight, but still eat carbs. In November I started running small distances (4km) just to test out the hip, get Lexi out of the house (my car was totalled this summer and I can no longer drive her daily to the dog park like I used to) and get back in shape. Low and behold I'm building up my stamina.

I'm up to 6-8 km several times a week and I really want to revisit my half marathon goal. The BMO Vancouver Half/Full Marathon is the first weekend in May. So here is my public declaration that I will RUN THE HALF MARATHON! I'm putting it out there publicly so I can't back down.

I'm going to watch my hip carefully, so hopefully it'll hold up through training.I'm also thinking that if I run the half marathon I'll treat myself to a Disneyland trip. Ha Ha, I think I'd drag myself across the line if it means Disneyland!!

Another goal for the year will be to start taking photos again. I got a new laptop, and haven't uploaded any of my photo software on here, and Lexi ate the memory card in my other camera - so I don't have the ability to take anything.... therefore I'll post a few random photos from Easter.