T-minus 24 Hours

Well...a little less. But let's go with it for dramatic effect.

The Pittsburgh Great Race is tomorrow. My first ever real, true race. (Not the first one I registered for, but the first one I'm actually going to do.) 

Today was packet pick-up and expo day. The expo was definitely smaller than the one we went to when Joe ran the marathon last year, but it was still fun. Picked up a new pair of running sunglasses (not risking losing my Fendis on the course!), snagged my bib and race shirt, and we're ready to go!

Then we headed to Fat Heads for some pre-race beers and sandwiches, and an amazing WVU win. 

Tonight we have a charity function to go to, then it's home to get ready. It's almost 5k time!!

Power to the ME!

I'm a liar. A big, dirty liar. And not just because I said that I was going to be a more faithful blogger. Let's just overlook that little white lie, kthankx.

No, I lied in this post, when I said that I can't run. Or, more accurately, that I hate to run. Because I got inspired, and next week, I'm running my first-ever race, the Pittsburgh Great Race 5k. Here's what happened.

Have you seen the Athleta Power to the She ad campaign? It's empowering, it's beautiful - I absolutely love it. And one day I was flipping through Joe's Runner's World, because naturally, there can't be written material in my house I haven't read yet. And I saw this ad:

Image Source

And I thought to myself, I love fall. But yet I watch it from inside a building - inside the house, inside work, inside the gym... I want to smell the fall air and hear the leaves crunching beneath my feet. And I want to wear some hot fall running clothes like that chick. So I think I need to run.

The next day, it was a fluke low-60s August day. So I laced up my shoes and trusty ankle brace, and started off. Walking. Not running. And it felt AMAZING. So I picked up my pace. And ran a little, walked a little, repeat. And by the time I looped our 'hood and made it back home, I'd covered more than 2.5 miles. WHAT?!?!?! Hellz yeah!!

And you know what? I was sore for a couple of days. And it was hard. But I did it. And two days later, I did it again. And two weeks later, I did three miles. And it's amazing. The sense of accomplishment in doing something that I always thought I sucked at is incredible. Yes, sometimes it still hurts. It hurt this morning, in fact. But I am sticking with it.

Why? Because I can. I'm doing it for me. To paraphrase the ad with the super cute shirt, Power to the ME!