Hello runner.

I began running before my senior year of high school. I used it to help keep me in shape, and really began to enjoy it. It became a time when I could de-stress and let my mind wander. I did my fair share of 5k's and 10k's in college, but in the Summer of 2008, I decided to dream big and register for The Omaha Marathon. This particular marathon is one of the hilliest marathons in the U.S. - which I did not know about until I was at the starting line and the lady next to me said, "This is your first marathon?! Why did you pick this one? It's all hills!". And the award for the 'Most influential speech before you run 26.2 miles for the first time in your life' goes to....the lady standing next to me at the starting line! It didn't change the fact that I trained for 3.5 months in the humid summer heat, prepared as much as I could, and felt completely ready for race day. And yes, I completed the marathon in the Fall of 2008.

After the hill-tastic Omaha Marathon, I ran two half-marathons, multiple smaller races, and continued running in my free time. After starting optometry school in the fall of 2010, I realized that my free time was becoming a thing of the past, and I decided to put off another marathon until after boards. I wanted to run The Philadelphia Marathon. Well, Nike's minimalistic shoes are not for everyone, and I learned that the hard way. I dealt with almost two years of iliotibial (IT) band syndrome and pain from those damn shoes. *Pro tip: Always get fit at a running specialty store when wanting to transition to a new shoe. Especially if you have magnificent ballerina arches like me.* I wish I would have taken my advice. After almost six months of physical therapy to get me back on my feet, I could run around a track four times. Four. And with that, Philadelphia was obviously off the table.

Since then, I've been slowly increasing mileage, but never surpassing five miles because I've been so scared I'll injure my leg again. Anyone who's ever been benched from running for any time at all can feel my anxiety. I did not want to go through that healing process ever again.

So basically, I had no training plan since 2010, and I finally started to miss it.

Fast forward to now. I'm done with school. Working at the residency of my dreams. Living in the most beautiful part of the United States. So, I woke up last week and decided it was about time I made another running goal. I figured I might as well go big or go home, and decided to tackle another marathon. I mean, it's the perfect time to get back to running, winter is right around the corner!... Okay, so maybe it's not the greatest time, but I can't control what my brain wants! Besides, I'm used to real winters. Sorry, but the people that live on this coastal side of the U.S. do not understand what -60 degrees Fahrenheit feels like. I think everyone in California would just cease to exist if they experienced 30 seconds of real cold and 32 inches of snow at the same time. I'm not gonna lie, I 'farmer's almanac'd' the weather in the Pacific Northwest, and the coldest predicted for this winter? 19 degrees Fahrenheit. Psssh. Piece. Of. Cake. And, in the words of the great Russell Wilson, "Why not (me)?".

So here it goes. I'm on track to complete a four month training course in mid-January. Good thing the marathon I want to run is at the end of November.

Here's to a truncated training program and injury free running!