In just seven days I run my first half marathon. So I hereby proclaim December 8-14 to be National Half Marathon Week. “Says who?” you may ask… well, says me!

I was scheduled to run with a friend tonight, and here’s how the conversation went, via text message, about 30 minutes before our run was scheduled to start:

Check this out… tonight I ran 4.06 miles in only 36:02 minutes… that’s 8:52/mile. I know this because I bought one of those cool Nike thingy’s that plug into your iPod and tell you how fast/how far you are running. It’s a pretty neat invention!

Today my training partner and I set out to run 9 or 10 miles. We got up at the crack of dawn (my alarm went off at 5:00 a.m. on a Saturday… yikes!) and kicked off our run with a group of other crazy individuals around 6:00.

Neither of us knew the course, which wound its way through the ritzy neighborhoods of Fort Worth, an area I don’t typically frequent. The rest of our group wanted to run 12, and when it was time for us to separate and set off on our own for the “shorter” 9-mile run, the directions they gave us were so complicated that we knew there was a 99.99 percent chance we would get lost. The thought of roaming the neighborhoods of Fort Worth, forcing ourselves to run further than we wanted to, was daunting, so we gave in to the peer pressure and did 12 with the rest of the group.

My legs have never been so tired in my entire life. However tired I have been before, I can multiply that by two, and that’s how tired my poor little legs were at the end of TWELVE miles. But it’s also really cool to say I’ve now run TWELVE miles. Gee whiz, that’s a really long way.

My favorite part of group runs is the breakfast celebration afterward. Eating pastries, or waffles, or sausage, or anything else that’s unhealthy is so much fun after you have burned 1200 calories.

The other good thing about getting up early to go for a long run is the LOOOOONG nap you get to take afterward. Sigh. That part is good too.

I did it! This morning I ran NINE WHOLE MILES at the park! Woo hoo!

You see, a few years ago the thought of running one whole mile was so overwhelming. I have asthma. And I’m a bit lazy. And running makes my body hurt. And I’m too busy. And I don’t really like it that much. And it’s usually too cold, or too hot, or I ate too big a lunch, or I had a coke. Hundreds of excuses of why I couldn’t run, didn’t have time to run, didn’t need to run.

And then I started to run.

Before today, the most I had ever done was somewhere between 7-8 miles, during my first unsuccessful half-marathon attempt. This morning, when my alarm went off at the ungodly hour of 6:45 (made worse after my late night rodeo adventure, which I will write about soon), all I wanted to do was hide under my covers and avoid the inevitable exercise. Again, my week was too hard, I am behind on my sleep, I felt a little dehydrated, and my body ached. I am so, so good at making excuses.

But my running buddy was waiting for me, and I couldn’t let him down, so I willed myself out of bed, in a daze somehow stumbled around my house, found my running shoes, and headed out the door.

And then it happened. The weather was absolutely beautiful. Cool and crisp. We started running, and we never stopped. It was one of the best runs I’ve had in months. I think it’s either that runner’s high people talk about, or maybe my body just goes numb and my brain turns to mush as I stare blankly at the endless sidewalk before me, and I stop noticing the pain. Either way, it felt great.

To celebrate, I got a giant latte and a cinnamon roll from one of my favorite coffee shops (Buon Giorno… yum), and now I’m sitting on my back porch, enjoying a quiet, cool morning, getting ready to tackle tomorrow’s Sunday School lesson.

After such a serious blog, I must lighten the mood and brag on myself, and make fun of myself. All of this caffeine is keeping me from sleeping, so I might as well keep writing.

I have been so good lately. Last Saturday, I ran 7 miles (at 6 a.m.!). Last night, I ran 4-5 after class. On Saturday, I plan to tackle 8. Go me. I kind of figured I would have quit this half-marathon thing by now.

Now for the shameful part. Today I ate Chick-fil-a. Twice. For breakfast and lunch. They were handing it out at the hospital and I managed to scavenge enough food to save me from having to actually stop working to eat. I would have had it for dinner, too, but I had a coworker who was hungry, and I gave her my spare chicken sandwich. Yep, I’m selfless alright. And sick of chicken. So for my dinner… some cereal I found in my desk drawer and some cinnamon bread from Starbucks. If you added some Ramen noodles to the list, I’d be back in college.

Yesterday? My awesome diet consisted of quiche, a large meatball sub, Doritos, and four granola bars for dinner… two on my way to class, two after class on my way to go running. And then I topped the night off with cereal around 10:30. Because they say the best thing to do is eat dinner right before you go to bed. I think Oprah had that in a book somewhere.

Sunday? Well, I managed two dinners that night. One from Taco Bell, one from Red Robin. Tacos, burgers, and french fries. Oh yeah, and I also had donuts and barbecue.

Yep, I’m a regular Olympic athlete. On the outside, I’m a lean-mean running machine, and on the inside, I’m one giant clogged artery. But this giant clogged artery is just doing her best to survive, and will get back to eating healthy as soon as her schedule slows down. Don’t judge me, just love me.

Tonight I went running in the park. All by myself. Like the big girl that I am. Normally I run with my friend, the super runner. He can run further and faster than I’ll ever be able to run, but he’s nice enough to go with me so that I don’t have to do the long runs by myself.

Because let’s face it, I’m a running disaster waiting to happen.

Let’s see. Tonight I ran about 5.5 miles. I had an asthma attack. I got lost. And toward the end, my stomach cramped so bad that I couldn’t walk. And all of that happened several miles from my car. Plus I got lazy and walked a lot more than normal.

I think there’s a strong possibility that if I continue to run alone, somebody will find me wandering the streets of Fort Worth, looking for my car. Or I’ll be passed out on the sidewalk, and runners will have to step over my limp but well-dressed body as they go by. Either way, it won’t be pretty.

So I’m either going to have to call my running friend again, or I’m going to start running with my inhaler, my cell phone, and a whistle. And maybe some flares. And a pistol. And an atlas. Looks like I’m going to need a backpack that matches my running shoes.

Well, my flight is now booked. I’ll be flying DFW to Brussels to Venice, and coming home Barcelona to New York to DFW. Between the flight and the cruise, I bet I see 20 cities on my trip. That part is exciting.

Unfortunately, I may have to sell a kidney to pay for it. Because of the mix-up with my frequent flier miles, I had to pay FULL PRICE. Gulp. Maybe I should get a part-time job. Or find a rich, unsuspecting man to marry between now and then. Nah, maybe I’ll just stop eating out so much. (this reminds me of my favorite first line of any book… the first line of Pride & Prejudice… you should look it up, and you’ll love it too).

Spending $1500 very unexpectedly kind of stressed me out (let’s just say I was very close to hugging the toilet), so I went for a long run at the park tonight with a friend. We ran for a little over an hour–we’re not sure how far we went, but I’m estimating it was about six miles. I’m still planning on running that half-marathon in December, so this was a good step in the right direction!

All of that running made the expensive ticket seem a lot less important. I think I’m just too tired to care!