Blogging for the Niagara Falls Marathon

So I just found out something really cool. The Niagara Falls Marathon is linking individual runner blogs to their website and facebook page! I thought this was a fantastic idea and volunteered my own humble blog to the cause. I look forward to reading about and following the journeys of my fellow runners! I also look forward to other peoples comments and words of encouragement and wisdom.

I thought I would take a step back and introduce myself. My name is Kristin (in case you didn't see the huge blog title ...) and I have become an accidental runner. I used to hate running. I mean REALLY hate it. I signed up for a gym and they told me I would have to run on the treadmill for 15 mins to warm up, so I promptly left and joined another one.
(Don't believe me? Check out my first run as part of my first triathlon - do I look happy to you?)

  All my life I have been a swimmer. I love the water. I love the feeling you get when you dive into it, the feeling you get swimming through it and the feeling you get floating in it after a great workout. I then met two friends - a biker and a runner. This set me down the path of triathlons. I enjoyed triathlons. It turns out, most people can't swim. Or at least, they can't swim well. The first triathlon I did, I was one of the first out of the water. I will admit, this made me a little cocky. This isn't so hard I thought to myself. I'm going to win this thing! Then came the bike. Followed by the run. That sure showed me. I think I finished in the bottom 20%. Although discouraged I thought, if I can just decrease my run time, I would be a lot better. Then, Bam. I started running.  Well ... running is probably a bit to strong. I started jogging ... errr ... walking briskly. At first it was painful. Not physically, mentally. How boring is it to run alone, on a treadmill, facing a wall for an hour? Let me tell you (in case you couldn't guess) - it is really boring. I thought ... this isn't going to last long.
(A much happier me in a bathing suit as opposed to running gear)

   Then something changed. I started running outside (and having music/podcasts didn't hurt). I actually found myself enjoying it! (GASP!). Now. I'm going to be honest. There are days when I HATE running. Like days when the entire time I'm running I'm cursing myself for setting down this stupid path (after all WHO the HECK would want to run 42.2 km voluntarily?) but those days are made up for by the days when you feel like you are literally flying down the sidewalk. This is turning out to be longer than I had planned. I should hurry things along.

   The basics are this. I signed up to run the Niagara Falls Marathon in October, 2013. I have only ran one marathon previously with my only goal being to do it under 5 hours. What was my time you ask? No joke ... it was 5:00.28. Seriously. You know when you get really excited and then all of your happiness and joy comes crashing down in 29 seconds? Ya ... it sucks eh? So ! I decided, it can't be that hard to knock off 29 seconds over 5 hours right? So I am attempting this again. If anyone out there has advice/experiences/funny comments to add, I would be grateful ! Sometimes out there running for hours you need something to ponder over, so if people want to add some of life's unsolvable questions, maybe I can ponder those over as well (Not the usual ones like, why is chili called chili when it's hot? I need more originality here people).

    I hope at least 1 person reads this post and finds it somewhat amusing. That would mean - mission accomplished ! Good luck to everyone out there and I will try to update my blog more then once a year ...

  - Kristin