It feels like just a week ago when I was face timing my Uncle while he was looking at my apartment. In reality, that was in November and there is one big takeaway I had from our conversation (besides the apartment, of course.).

“There’s a running club down here you should connect with.” What’s ironic is that I actually just finished running in the Annapolis Running Classic that morning. While I was sore and achy from the PR, those words got me excited.

One of the first things I did when I moved down here was reach out to the running club Facebook group. I gave the ordinary just moved down here, like to run, etc.

At school, I never really ran with anybody mainly because I would run before the sun was up. So I never would go out with a group of people, let alone ONE person to run with. There would be the occasional run with my sister when she was there, but that was it.

Of course, I was hesitant to join a running group. But I thought about something my family told me, which was to go out and try NEW things. So I did just that.

Fast forward to today, I’ve had some great runs with some really awesome people. The big thing I did not expect from this entire thing was the extra motivation from everyone.

That motivation has led me to sign up for my first marathon on March 31st! If you asked me about running a marathon two months ago, I would have laughed at the comment. But here we are, just over two weeks before the ‘Carmel Marathon’, in Indiana.

I signed up for this last weekend so I didn’t have the standard ‘marathon training’ schedule, which is something I embrace- a challenge. The idea really started from the encouragement by the running club. At first, I didn’t realize it but I am training with a group that is in ‘marathon training’ and have a lot of experience.

The decision really came last Saturday after a 22-miler. A fellow runner/friend, Skip (with a lot more experience than me) told me that I’m ready for a marathon and I should sign-up for Carmel.

I thought about those comments a lot on my ride home, talked to a few others about logistics and figured that this the opportunity to take. Everything has fallen into place really being that I am not going alone. Instead, I’m going with a great group of people who share the same end goal. It’s also very reassuring knowing I am going with this group, especially for my first marathon.

What I want to get out of this blog post is that it’s really easy to have a reason not do or pursue something. It’s also as easy to fall into a circle of not venturing out, especially for me. You never know until you try something.