What was I thinking?

We currently belong to a super church with a lot of great people, with a pretty amazing pastor. One Sunday we were in service when they played this video about participating in Team World Vision, running in a marathon (May 2011) in Lincoln to raise money for kids in Africa. I have to admit that I have moments where certain things tug at the "heart cords" and I secretly have always wanted to run in a marathon, or I should be honest and say that, "the idea of running in a marathon" has always sounded like a really cool thing to do, right? I also kept hearing people talk about this love for running and how they get hooked after their first marathon (Liars..).

Well, after something thinking about it, I thought, "OK I think I can do this, and I kinda want to do this." There was some time before one of the informational meetings were scheduled in case I wanted to change my mind. I can tell you that Betsy did not think I would do this (she has been super supportive). I went to the meeting and became a little more confident that I could do this. Then I saw the "PRE-training" 1/2 marathon schedule. The confidence pretty much went out the door. The down side of all of this is that I felt like I had made it to the meeting and I should go ahead and sign up since everyone there was doing it. If I was smarter I would have made a run for the door and not looked back, but...

Now, those of you who know me, know that I DO NOT run for anything unless I am being chased or I am running for the front of the line for food. I will also chase someone for a cinnamon roll. EVEN in my prime I could run about ten feet without requiring oxygen, but if I went past that I was falling to the ground yelling for someone to call 911. Unfortunately, there are some people who have got to see that happen and I am sure it is pretty entertaining.

I can tell you, after three weeks of this "PRE" training and getting ready to start the fourth week.....I have passed out 4 or 5 times and have almost fallen off the treadmill like every time I get on it. People who love to run are crazy, I am not sure what even gets you excited about this. For example, this weeks schedule states to run for 3min, then walk 1 min for a total of 35 minutes. It sounds easy enough, but let me tell you...3 minutes seems like forever when you are running, plus I am not a little boy and next week I am "supposed" to run for 4min and walk 1 min for even longer. Ha, should be interesting. Now, I will say that TODAY (only today so far) was probably the first day since I started that I actually enjoyed the run (I did put a double cheeseburger on the treadmill in front me for some extra motivation). We will see how Monday goes...as long as I remember that I am doing this for these kids in Africa, I think I can make it.

I cannot even imagine crossing that finish line next year, mostly because I cannot even imagine running for 4 min one time, so stay tuned and I will keep you updated as this journey continues. "It's for the kids." "It's for the kids." "It's for the kids."