As I mentioned previously, I am voluntarily running the L.A. Marathon on March 15th, 2015, 31 days from today.  If I had been told a year ago that I would be doing this now, I would have said “you don’t know me at all.”  I have always considered running the worst form of transportation, never a hobby or something to do for fun.  I described this decision in It’s a Marathon, Not a Sprint towards the end of last year.  I only started training for this in November, less than 4 months ago, and though I have run nearly everyday since, it still feels weird.  Yes, it’s a tall order considering that others on Team World Vision have been training much longer and also have experience running marathons, but I have found my motivation and I am embracing the challenge to run in such a way as to win the prize.

I have never thought of my self as a runner and that feeling is reinforced when I watch others train.  You know, those really skinny people with good posture and clothes that match their shoes made me feel self-conscious at first, but now that I have found my place and my purpose in this process, it doesn’t bother me.  Right now I completely focused on finishing the race.  Now that I have others counting on me to finish, I cannot, not finish, no matter how long it takes.  This whole quest has become a matter of faith and I know to get there I will have to go to depths mentally and physically that I have never gone before to find my resolve.  My strength alone will not get it done.  I keep seeing the saying that “running a marathon is a state of mind that says anything is possible.”  I modify it in my mind to say that “running a marathon is an act of faith that says with God, all things are possible.”  I like mine better, because though I have a high threshold for pain, positive thinking is not going to help my blisters, my trick knee or my other trick knee.  Right now I am counting on faith, prayer, adrenaline from my music playlist and whatever I can bring to the table.

With that, I am doing everything I can to get ready including reading a book on running, trying to follow a runners diet and I have signed up to run some 5Ks and 10Ks in the next month including the Valentine’s 5K this Saturday, the Vegas 10K Blacklight, a 5K in Florida while I am there for work and the San Diego 10K Blacklight the week before the marathon.  I have become addicted to Active.com and have banned myself from the site for a while because I started signing up for everything.  You see, this is my problem, I don’t know how to do anything half speed, no pun, so I not looking at the site again for a while, at least until I learn how to temper my enthusiasm.  After the marathon I am also signed up for the Tacos and Beer Cinco de Drinko 5K, the Disneyland Half Marathon and the San Diego Rock n Roll Marathon.  I also have a whole list of runs around the country that coincide with my travel schedule for work including St.Louis, North Carolina, Atlanta, Vegas, Washington DC, and the Blacklight Run in Chicago.  As an added bonus, I might get to the Maui marathon if I do enough revenue to qualify for a partner conferences.  If nothing else, I will have a pretty cool t-shirt collection by the end of the year, so that’s neat.

I am excited about the course which will go from Dodger Stadium to downtown, up to Hollywood, then over to West Hollywood, down Sunset to Beverly Hills, then through Century City on up to West L.A., back up to Brentwood and finally Santa Monica for the big finish and after party at the beach.  The course is designed to pass a lot of SoCal land marks starting with Dodger Stadium to city hall to a bunch of different theaters, Capitol Records, the Whiskey, Rodeo Drive, down historic Route 66, through Palisades Park and then along PCH to Santa Monica pier.  My plan it to take a lot of photos along the way, sort of act like a tourist and see all the things I never see because I live here.  My goal is to not be last and beat the slowest time from 2014 which was a little over 13 hours which works out to a 30 minute mile.  Right now my mile time is 15:20, down from 21 minutes in November; I just need to do that 26 times in a row plus 3 minutes.  I mean the whole thing start to finish will only be 180,000 steps, so if I just do that one step at a time, it should work out.  When I think about it that way, worrying about it seems silly and I am never silly.  Okay, that last statement is false, but you see my point.  I can’t over think it, it’s a marathon, not a sprint.

Well that is my home stretch, 30 day update.  I think it is going to go fast as my schedule is jam packed over the next month, so just praying for discipline to stay the course.  I will be sharing more on this subject including my motivation, what I am learning and my music, the tunes that have helped me get this far.  That is all for now!