then and now...I haven't changed.

So, wow. I looked at an old blog post, and it helped me change my perspective on this marathon I am doing Sunday. I stumbled upon a post I wrote about my first half-marathon and how it went.

Go read it here.

First, I had fun with my first half marathon, and I remember that! I remember how fun it was. I goofed off the whole time and let it be an experience. Then, after that, I started working on getting faster, and I did. However, that was the funnest half marathon I did. The only one that even comes close is the one I just did recently in Texarkana. It's because I didn't worry about my time. I just was worried about finishing. After that, I cared about my time. It helped. I cut 40 minutes off my half marathon time in about a year and a half.

So yeah, that's what I need to do. I need to go out there, relax, and have fun with it. Who cares how long it takes. I may just surprise myself. If a kid wants to give me a high five, I will take it. I am for sure going to stop at the lipstick stop towards the end, and maybe even the beer stop. I will still have done a marathon, and it still will have been hard. It's probably going to be the training and sacrifice that was the hardest, and I hope to love every minute of the race.

Then, after this is over, I'll work on my speed. Funny thing, I've been saying that already. I've been saying after this marathon, I'm going to work on getting in shape. ;) Funny thing. I was saying it then too. I mean it ever single time! I checked to see what I said after the Indianapolis 500 Festival Mini-Marathon in 2006.  Here's what I said about it:

So the mini and everything that went along with it is over. It was good times. I beat the goal I had set for myself. That made me happy. It makes me wonder what I actually could do. I mean, I trained, but I didn't train hard. Actually, I'm not sure if you could call it training at all. I would go a week or so with out running. For this reason, I had a good pace for about 9 miles, then I crashed. My time could have been better. It doesn't matter though, because I beat my goal. That's all that matters. Plus, I ran fast enough that next year, I can be seeded. That means I won't have to wade through slow people the first mile. It was a bit ridiculous on Saturday. Ok.

So same thing, what could I do if I trained? Haha. I guess my thought process is always the same. What more could I do...so I trained a little harder...and this is what I said:

Saturday...I ran a mini-marathon in Bloomington, IN. It was the hardest race I have ever done. There was not one single flat part in the whole entire course. It was either uphill or downhill the whole entire way. OUCH!!!! Somehow or the other...I still managed to run my fastest mini time by 10 minutes!!! I can't wait to see what will happen on a flat course!

So there you go, always thinking about the future. Unfortunately, after this, I only ran 1 more half marathon and it went well but not amazing. After that, I basically quit running for five years. Glad to be back.

Ok, one more thing,

What I said in 2005:

*A few years ago...I would have never thought that I could run 13.1 miles. It's kind of funny. I could say I was running a mini-marathon, and I don't think people would believe me. Now, people know I am crazy into running...

Now, let me just re-word this for 2012:

*A year ago, I would have never thought that I would be running a marathon this Spring. It is kind of funny. I could have told people I was going to run a marathon, but they would never believe me because I just didn't really run. Now, people know I am crazy into running...