Later that same day I received an e-mail from one of my best friends from college telling me of the marathon she is running in London in 2 weeks.  I was actually a little emotional thinking about how proud I was of her.  It sparked a second discussion with another one of my college besties about some of her recent fitness achievements….running half marathons, doing a 150 mile bike race next month, signing up to do Tough Mudder.  I always knew my Syracuse girls were some of the strongest women I have ever known, but they were now taking it to a whole new level!  After a few messages back and forth my girlfriend, with no hesitation, said….Let’s do a marathon together in 2015!!  I was looking for a huge goal, and I’m pretty sure she just set it for me….”I’M IN!” I wrote back.  October 2015 Chicago marathon anyone??

It’s going to be a slow journey getting there, but I’m up for the challenge.  3 months ago I was hyperventilating trying to run a mile straight, now every run is between 3-5 miles and I actually enjoy it.  5k in May, 10k in June, Half Marathon in the Fall perhaps?  I truly believe I need something like this…something to work towards that is all my own.

Do any of you use the Map My Run app?  It tracks your runs via GPS, tracks your overall time, pace per mile, elevation changes and so much more.  Most importantly you can still play your itunes music playlists at the same time.  If you use it please add me as a friend….LaurenH451.  I’m all about accountability and I can’t think of any better motivation than sharing my progress and seeing yours as well.  I know some of you are avid runners, that I look up to, and would love to follow in your footsteps (or at least be able to see those footsteps in action!).

In looking at different training schedules they all seem to recommend 3-5 mile runs during the week, and then doing longer runs on the weekends that increase by 1 mile per week.  Sounds like a good place to start to me!   Here is my run from yesterday evening.

I’m excited to use this as my starting point and see how far I can push myself…hopefully to the tune of 26.2 miles. Man that sounds scary, but I’ve got some time and I’m ready to accomplish some short term goals first.  What are some of your fitness goals, both big and small?  To start walking once the weather is warmer?  Try a new class at the gym? Run in a race?  Start a new workout DVD?  I’d love to hear them if you are open to sharing.  I’d also love any running advice, especially from distance runners!  On your marks, get set, go!