Running-in-circles comes to life

I have been thinking about starting this blog for almost a year now, and today something extraordinary happened and so I am finally doing it. Why is it that we wait so long to do things for ourselves that would mean so much to us?

It is that same line of thinking that got me back into running, actually. I ran in high school and then got out of the habit in college, and for years tormented myself with things like, "This week I am going to get back into running," and, "Just this week, you are going to run three days," and, "Today you are going to run," all of which usually failed. I wanted to run so badly but had a really, really hard time getting into it, even though it meant so much to me.

I was very fortunate in the last few months before our wedding to have a friend encourage me to join her in a half marathon. Ever since then, it has been easier to be more of the dedicated runner I'd fantasized about being for so long.

So why the name of this blog? In high school, we used to joke about how all we did was run in circles. It's true, really, and not just because we sometimes ran interval workouts around the track. Even when we ran 5, 6, 7 mile runs around town, we'd start and finish in the same exact place. We'd just spent an hour running in circles. (And talking about food, and boys - not much has changed - but that was a bit long for a title.) Running is a little bit crazy. You have to be a little bit crazy to be a runner.

So, the extraordinary thing that happened today was I found out that I am getting a Boston Marathon WAIVER from the club I recently joined, Greater Boston Track Club! This is really very lucky-- there is no better word for it-- and in many ways I have no business being part of the most elite marathon in the world.

Boston has very strict qualifying times, which they've actually just made stricter as the popularity of running has grown. A qualifying time is a 3:35 marathon = 8:12 pace, for women up to age 39. Also you have to qualify by September to run the following year's marathon, so if I qualified TODAY, for example, I couldn't run Boston until April 2013. Anyway the alternative to qualifying is to be accepted by a charity to raise a minimum of $4000. Ya ok.

And then apparently there is this secret, rare gem called a WAIVER which a few area running groups are given. I just happened to (be crazy enough to) join (the elite, far more in shape than me) Greater Boston Track about a month ago, just in time to see their email advertising the *few* waivers they had received. A very fortunate series of events.

So now I will be heading out for the weekend long run, before ringing in the New Year! Happy New Year and Happy Running!