Last Spring, during my 7 months of unemployment, I came to a few conclusions: I needed to stay active, and there were only so many hours I could spend everyday looking for jobs.  So I tried something I’d never done before: running.

I started with a few quick trips up and down a road near my house.  I became comfortable with running about 5k, which was a mind blowing accomplishment, and then began to push beyond that.  After one or two longer runs I realized that six miles wasn’t really harder than three, and I first got the idea that maybe I could run in a half marathon.

When I got back from my summer-long mission trip I started running again, and began to research what I needed to do to prepare.  I found a 12 week training schedule and got into a rhythm of running four days a week.  I was soon up to back up to three miles, and began to feel like I hadn’t even pushed myself if I wasn’t running at least six.  My training topped out the week before the race with a ten mile run, which I celebrated as if it were the race itself.

This past Sunday I gathered with about 30,000 other runners from all around the world at the San Antonio Rock ‘n’ Roll  Half Marathon and ran 13.1 miles in two hours and six minutes.  Here are a few take-aways I’d like to share with you, that I believe apply to running, and life in general.

1) Anybody can run a half marathon. That’s right: Anybody.  Yeah, you, with the spare tire hanging over your pants, you can run a half marathon.  All it takes is going outside, everyday for the next three or four months and running.  What seems like a great accomplishment on my part pales when I realize I was only one of about 30,000 people that ran last Sunday, that a girl ran the whole marathon in less time than I ran the half, and that more than one grandma beat me.

2) Goals are good, but goals with timelines are better. I thought about running a half marathon for awhile, but thinking about it didn’t do much for me.  What made the difference was circling a date on the calendar, and holding myself to a daily exercise plan.  Each week I ran a few more miles than the last, until the race came and I did  just fine.

3) It gets easier-even fun! One of my greatest shocks in the process is that I have come to enjoy running.  This was a very slow process.  I mean months went by, hundreds of miles were ran, and I still hated every minute of it.  Then one day I finished my run, and I realized “I’m just getting warmed up.  I could totally keep going!”  It’s still hard to get started, but one I’m two or three miles in, I don’t think about it anymore, and I just keep running.

My encouragement to you is to set a goal for something you never thought you could ever do.  Make a plan.  Work on it everyday.  Celebrate  every little victory along the way.  And enjoy the race.