Samantha said it...

"You just wait for the stories" she said, in her first entry Oh dear.

I like to think that's where I come in. Not that we all won't have fantastic stories to share, but I like to think I'll be "that girl" that shares it all. Maybe my entries should come with a ratings warning? All I'm saying is brace yourselves.

Why am I doing this? Because Staci asked me to. And yes, if she asked me to jump off a cliff I most likely would - it's just that kind of friendship.

You can read our "conversation" if you can call sly-trickery: conversing by following the link above, but you should know that the start of all this being-healthy-challenging-myself-crazy-hooplah for me begins a few months ago. I was painting a friend's kitchen with (you guessed it) Staci and a few other ladies, listening to them converse about the Spartan Race we were all signed up for [gasp]. Yes folks, it is as awful as it sounds.

By the end of the evening I was convinced to sign up for a Versus Strength and Conditioning Athletic Training class after my soon-to-be coach sent me the link to this blog written by a woman who addresses the differences between the Spartan Race and the Warrior Dash (a topic from the evening's discussions). I knew if I didn't start doing something other than running walk-jogging on my own time, I wouldn't survive the race.

So, the next week I began my new training with Versus AT and after my very first class...

"I made it back to the bathroom but couldn't decide what I needed to do when I got there (vomit, sit, poop, cry...)" 

-Excerpt provided by tcktales

And that's where I pick up the stories that will accompany this hell half-marathon training. Vowel movements, as my grandmother refers to them and we too shall henceforth, are very real-and-completely-within-the-confines-of-appropriate-runners'-conversation-topics.

Our poor AT class didn't realize just how close I decided we had become the morning after Just-4-Kicks first experience implementing hills. If I told you I was "moving quick" up and down those beasts, mountains, hills but I'm not referring to my feet would you catch my drift? I asked our coach if he had ever heard of "runner's-gut".

"You mean where your stomach messes up when you're running?"

Yes. When your stomach messes up.

Coach had heard of people who experience vowel issues during long runs. "And when you say long-runs, what's that like, three miles?" I asked and cut my eyes at Staci.

Runner's gut and vowel movements aside don't you worry, there will be plenty of time for that, I'm excited about this challenge. I've been feeling restless and antsy lately and haven't been able to put my finger on why. I think this will be something to focus on living for a while, and it will certainly be something to write about.

These other women I'm in this with are fantastic people who I've slowly come to know (thanks in large part to Staci) and get excited about seeing in the mornings. Like Samantha said, it's way easier to get up and go that's really not supposed to be a vowel movement pun there when you know there are others relying on you for motivation and you rely on them. It's a win-win for everyone.

No, I'm not LOOKING FORWARD to running a four-mile-hill-route in the morning, or the vowels that will come before, during and after (literally, we take turns grunting, ugh'ing and other'ing things) but I'm excited to check one more training day off our list, together.