"Now you wouldn't believe me if I told you, but I could run like the wind blows. From that day on, if I was going somewhere, I was running!" -Forrest Gump

  Exactly two months from today I will run the Music City Half Marathon. And let me tell you this day's been a long time coming. I made a promise to myself the weekend after my birthday, which also turned out to be the end of my relationship, that I would run 13.1 miles and in the process get over him and let go of it all. I come from a family of runners and have run on and off my entire life, mostly as means of staying skinny, but Junior year of high school I used it to get over a boy and here I was doing it again four years later.

  I am blessed with an incredible family who loves me like no other and has supported me through it all. However, I also come from a family who will tease your pants right off you. I am not the most graceful person in the world nor am I the most elegant in every day life; so when I announced at family dinner downtown one July night my marathon plans my dad about choked on his burger. Nonetheless, when we got home that night Joe helped me pick out a new pair of running shoes for training and the half-marathon. Mom put the date in her planner and Dad wished me good luck. And here we are. I would bet I will be more emotional after I cross that finish line and find my family, especially my momma, than I will be on graduation day. There is something so emotional and personal about running, it takes everything you have to give and then some. The most raw moment you can have is finishing a run in tears, legs shaking, knowing you did it. 

  After training for a good solid seven months now I can say in confidence I couldn't have done it without my little brother or Map My Run. Map my Run is an amazing website that I seriously would not have been able to train without. It's like Facebook for runners but so much better. You can find friends, or in my case little brothers, to share runs, workouts, and diet plans with. I've mapped every run on the site to get my exact mileage for the day and Joe has sent me runs he's mapped out for me through the site as well. It's simple and fast and has a huge array of resources for runners along with an iPhone app that has definitely come in handy. So once again social media has found another way into my life along with Pandora for a nice soundtrack during workouts, Pinterest for inspirational running quotes along with finding the coolest running gear, and of course Facebook to share all those sweaty "I DID IT" pictures. 

  I started this goal as a means of getting over someone and finding a way to heal. But it's grown into something so much more. I'm doing it for me. And let me just say I am pretty dang proud of myself. So here we go, sprint those last 100 yards no matter what. I'll see you at the finish line.