New Year's Day Marathon: Run This Year

Sometimes I do "crazy" stuff. I kind of love that about myself. All throughout my youth I was a very good kid. I did what I was supposed to do, got good grades, made good choices, and never really did anything that surprised anyone. Now, as an adult, I love when I can do something "crazy" and surprise people.

On December 30th around 8:00 pm, I decided that I really wanted to start the new year out by running a full marathon on New Year's Day. I hadn't run more than 10 miles since last May, and most of my runs lately have been between 3-4 miles. So, ya, it was kind of a crazy idea. But, I really wanted to do it and managed to get my Sparkle.Pounce. sister, LeighAnn, to join me. 

We text back and forth a bit and made plans to meet at 6:00 am. We would run 20 miles together, and then Sarah and Stephanie would join us for the last 6 miles. 

Even though the weather was cold (about 28 degrees) and it was snowing and kind of windy, it actually went surprisingly well. The first hour and a half of running in the dark went by really fast. And then, once the sun came up we enjoyed the beautiful snowflakes, saw 16 deer, and even a mink! It was beautiful. By the time we finished up our first 20 miles, we really couldn't believe that we had already run that far. It honestly didn't even seem that hard!

We had time to take about a 30 minute stretch/snack break while we waited for Sarah and Stephanie to arrive. And once they got there, we were ready to rock our last 6 miles (which ended up being 6.68 miles...I don't know who marked that course ;) ). And that's what we did. 

We knocked out 26.68 miles on New Year's Day before noon. No training, no plan, just a couple of girls who wanted to go out there and do something that no one else was doing that morning. It was pretty amazing.

 

I am not sure what exactly sparked my desire to run a marathon on New Year's Day. It's so hard for me to answer the question, "Why do you run?" I think the top reasons are that I like the way my body and mind feel after a good run, I like to do things that are challenging so that I can prove to myself that I am stronger than I think and stronger than my fears, and I like to inspire others.

And that's about it. There's never some big huge reason, and yet there are so many reasons.

Sparkle.Pounce.Run This Year.

-Kendra