A Moment of Thanks... Part I

I've been thinking about this post for awhile now but haven't sat down to actually write it.  I was going to write a long long post about everyone who got me to this point of being a marathoner... but I've decided to break it up a bit.

I want to first start with my friend Carissa.  Carissa and I met in late 2007 at work and pretty quickly became really close friends.  In January of 2008, she decided to take on a challenge of running a marathon for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society Team in Training Program.  She had always been an athlete, but never actually ran.  It was a huge goal but one I knew she would complete with success.  Anyway, during this time, I was 'training' for my wedding, meaning I was trying to get in shape and look my best for my special day.  Which also meant I was spending long hours at the gym and even longer hours on the treadmill.  I started running 8-10 miles on the treadmill pretty easily and around March Carissa said to me, why don't you do the Big Lake Half Marathon in early May.  She was doing that race as part of her training. I remember at first I was like, who me???  I'm a sprinter!  But she convinced me and I started training mainly on the treadmill and with older brother Mike.  The course was no joke with tons of rolling hills, but it was huge accomplishment! On May 10, 2008, I finished my first Half Marathon!  

Although Carissa and I didn't run together during the race, she was the one who convinced me to lace up my shoes and try something other than a 5K.  And you know what it wasn't that bad! So lil' one, thanks for convincing me to run long-distance races- I never would have thought I could do it without you!!!!!! Now lets run a marathon together! That was my first of 3 half-marathons and was the beginning of me thinking more like a distance runner and less like a sprinter.