We can do this

If you missed the Facebook status that is the title of this post, it probably seems pretty irrelevant and benign. However, if you did see it, it may have left you scratching your head. What can we do? Well.... for starters we can get off our asses and DO something. Anything.

I was reading some random stuff online because that's what I do, and I thought, "Wow. Wouldn't it be cool if we could go from being lazy to running an all-out marathon?"

See, I've never been much of a runner. Okay, I "competed" in track meets, attempting to run a mile race without any serious training. Of course I never took it seriously. I wasn't a runner. I was a volleyball player. Period. I participated in track, basketball, soccer... anything to pass the time from one volleyball season to another. So it's no surprise when I say that even though I finished those mile long races, I always finished dead last. And not just because I sprained my ankle.

Anyway, we talked about it and it seemed like a good idea at first. Then I started reading more. A LOT more. A marathon is 26.2 miles. If you're a beginner like me, even with 18 horrible weeks of training, that's a very long run. Like 5 or 6 hours. Who has that many hours left in a day after work to just go run? More importantly, who would really want to?

And then there are the horrors of marathons....

 <----This is what you get when you pop too many banana nut muffins to settle your nervous stomach.

 All those cups of water and Gatorade at all those hydration stations are bound to be released somewhere, as she'll tell all her fellow runners back home. --->

 <----.........

                                                     And.
                                                    Your.
                                                Nipples.
                                                     May.
                                                   Bleed.

 EFF THAT!

I chiseled it down to a half-marathon, thinking that if I could do at least half... Well, it seemed logical at the time. And it wasn't a whole marathon so I wouldn't be wasting an entire day running. Plus it's a half marathon so it should take half the time. The problem? Training for a half marathon basically takes the training for a whole one and amps it up. Yeah. THEY MAKE IT MORE INTENSE! What... the.... hell?

Ambition aside, I want to succeed. I don't want to have my sites set on a five hour run when I can really only handle a half hour. And a half hour of running should be enough. After all, don't doctors recommend 20-30 minutes of exercise a day? That'll get it. So that's it. A 5K. But for me, as one who is currently "not a runner" but wants to try on "being a runner" for size, I think that's plenty. And 3.1 miles certainly seems like something we can do.

Oh, and I really want these shoes: