Run Mary Run

I've decided to try to run the Green Bay 1/2 marathon in May and registered online earlier today. I wanted to write this post because if I didn't tell everyone then it might be a whole lot easier to back out. This is going to be a challenging one for me. I'm not built to run...In fact, the marathon website even has a name for someone in my weight range....Athena. I think this is supposed to make us bigger girls feel better for in Greek mythology Athena was the super bad ass goddess of war, civilization, wisdom, strength, strategy, crafts, justice and skill. I guess if I was going to be participating in a clean and jerk contest, fashioning together some sort of macrame plant hanger or sitting on jury duty this comparison would be fantastic. But for running, I'd much prefer to be more like the god Hermes, the winged-footed speedster who delivers all those bouquets for FTD florists, or the goddess of victory, Nike. She was so awesome that there is really tiny shoe company named after her. Everyone keeps telling me that the key to finishing a marathon is the training plan. You gotta stick to the plan. Russ sent me a 1/2 marathon training schedule and it's supposed to guarantee success if you follow it. I hope that's true. The longest I've ever run is about 6 miles and that was over 5 years ago. I will give this whole thing my very best effort and try to give an occasional training update. Hopefully on May 15th, 2011 at the finish line there will be a photo of me celebrating with my friends, enjoying a frosty beer and hopefully still standing.