The Foodist and the (1/2) Marathon

I have committed myself to a 1/2 Marathon in September. I don't know what the hell I was thinking. I used to like running...well, 'like' is a strong word. I tolerated running. I ran in soccer and in track. In high school. Since then I haven't done much. I played a little co-ed 7 a-side before I got pregnant 5.5 years ago. All I've done lately is a mile or so on a treadmill at random intervals, depending on my schedule. I've been lucky in this life to have been blessed with a high metabolism and a thin frame. The metabolism thing won't last forever and it has begun to slow over the last several years. Sure goals are fine, but how did this come to pass? Blame zombies.



I got wind last year of a zombie 5k obstacle course in other parts of the country. Sadly, this phenom had not made it's way to LA yet. That changed in the beginning of the year when I found that they were going to have a course close to LA! Temecula isn't super close, but I'll take it! I rallied my friends around me and a team was born: The Running Dead. 3.1 miles of obstacles and zombies. What's not to like? Then I started thinking I should run a few other 5ks along the way. You know, to get me into training sooner. Then I met Jon. Jon recently (in December 2011) completed the Honolulu Marathon. He's currently doing a 1/2 marathon per month for 2012. This includes the Disney 1/2 Marathon which I had always thought sounded fun. I am a total Disney fanatic (less collecting pins, I really don't get that). Soooo I tried to sign up for the Disney 1/2 Marathon. I figured, hey, it's in September, plenty of time to train. Right? Right????

Training began last night. Luckily I have a great training partner who will help push me along. We laced up our shoes and started running. We made it about 1.2 miles before my shins started screaming. That was a pain I haven't felt much since high school. The beginnings of shin splints. Yay... We turned around and walked the 1.2 miles back. Not a bad first day. I know tomorrow I'll be able to push it further.

One of the things I did yesterday was put out a Tweet regarding running shoes. I realize that my Nike cross trainers aren't going to cut it. I asked on Twitter if the Nike+ running shoes were worth it to track my miles. The general (very enthusiastic) consensus is that Nike blows and New Balance rules. I had a feeling. I always ran in New Balance back in the day, why should that change now? So I'm going to be heading over to the store shortly to get fitted for a proper set of shoes.

I'm also going to rework my diet. Being a foodist and writing about food adventures is fun. But it's also calorie filled. The next 6 months is going to have this website switch a little from gluttony to training and crap. Stick with me. I'm sure I'll have some random posts in here. Even God rested on the 7th day right? All I know at this moment is I went from 3.1 zombie filled miles to 13.1 miles at the Happiest Place on Earth. What's life without goals?