In which there are Babies, Comic Conventions, and Sprinting

Second post, and I'm already a little late. But trust me, I have good reasons.

Week two was easier on the running front than the first week. The weather was better! Flowers are coming up, trees are blooming, and there was no running in the rain!

See? Sunshine and Pretties!

All of these things are good. I also got to do my Saturday Run (the long run) on the South Side, with the company of my boyfriend. We ran to the lakeside and it was gorgeous. Then in some crazy moment of "this is feeling really good" (and showing off), I picked up the pace a lot on the way back, even sprinting the last minute. I didn't know I was capable of running that fast, but it was kind of fun!

 I confess that I did miss one day of running last Wednesday because work changed my schedule. I would have had to get up at 5 am to run, and I just couldn't bring myself to do that. I don't know how the rest of you feel about mornings, but I find them to be horrible awful times to be awake, so it was bad enough that I had to get up at 6 for work. I ran a little extra long and a little extra fast on other days to make up for it. Not sure if that bargaining system is actually valid, but hey, I made it to week three, and that's what counts.

I had plans for this post, but some pretty important and exciting things happened this weekend! Both of my friends who were pregnant had their tiny babies, and that was great! One baby lives in Idaho, so I won't get to see her for a while, but the other is in a Chicago suburb, and I had the honor of being one of her first visitors.

Holy crap, a baby! That my friend home-grew!

She is just precious, and these are my first close friends to bring other humans into the world, so it was a mind-meltingly awesome moment for me. So proud of all my girls!

I went straight from the hospital to C2E2, or the Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo, for Awesome Event Number Two. (If you haven't met me yet, I am a nerd. A big cuddly happy nerd who likes Wonder Woman and Star Wars, among other things.) This is a con that I have wanted to go to for three years, and I wasn't letting lack of sleep and multitude of babies stop me! My one regret about this is that my "rest day" on Sunday was not at all restful. Sure, I didn't run or workout, but I did spend about 6 hours walking around, climbing stairs, checking out artists, vendors, and other forms of nerdery. Deadpool even said hello! It definitely made my run on Monday tricky... but that's for next week's post!

All in all it was a fantastically emotional week, but I also feel like I've accomplished a lot. I am enjoying the sense of pride that these early stages are bringing me. Just imagine how good I'll feel as the runs get more challenging!

Let's Start at the Very Beginning...

Well folks, here we are. I am Kel, and I am going to run a marathon. As I say those words, they still sound kind of crazy, like they are about someone who is not really me. But here we are at the end of the first week of pre-training (and what a week it was!) and I am still resolved. I am going to run a marathon, and my hope is that you will go on this journey with me. It'll be hard! But we will learn things.

A little background on me. I am an actor/teacher working in Chicago and teaching younglings (ages 3.5-13) about theatre and drama. I have a huge passion for Shakespeare and his contemporaries, and just completed an M.F.A. in Staging Shakespeare in England. I have been lucky enough to have a lot of adventures, and a lot of struggles in my life, and the Bank of America Chicago Marathon is next on the list.

IMPORTANT: I am not a runner! I never have been! "Why did you sign up for a marathon," you ask? Well my friends, in the last year or two I have actually started working out regularly and become fairly fit. I have discovered how much of a wonderful metaphor for life a hard workout can be: It can be terrible. It will be hard. You WILL get through it, and even if not in top form, tomorrow you will perform better because of it. I love the endorphins it gives me and the confidence I gain, both in my appearance and in my ability to achieve a difficult goal. A marathon is an expanded version of that metaphor. I feel that if I can accomplish this, I can do anything.

Now that you've gotten to know me, I will briefly address this first week of training. I began on Monday, April 15, the day of the Boston Marathon. Let me tell you guys... this was really emotional for me. It made my week really hard. I was sad for the participants and spectators who went to enjoy themselves, support one another, and have fun. I was sad for the families and the victims. I was sad that an activity that countless people across the globe participate in became deadly. And I was sad for the people who worked so hard, put in so many hours, and who had their day of achievement tarnished, many not even allowed to complete the race. Let's all say a little prayer, wish, or send some good juju to the people who were there. We could all use some hugs on this one.

All these feelings combined with some really terrible running weather (Soaking rain! Cold! You guys, I got up at 7 am on Saturday to run before work and there was snow on the ground. SNOW!) did not make it easy for me to change my routine. After all, I typically work out at home. It's warm, dry, and I don't even have to go outside to get to my workout space.

See how warm and dry they are?

Right now I miss that, but I know that as Chicago gets warmer it will become a beautiful way to explore and enjoy my city.

Whew, that's long enough for now, but there was a lot to get through this time! Good thing you guys are troopers!
Stay tuned: I'm aiming for weekly updates about my progress, struggles, and shining moments on the road from April to October 13th, 2013.