Hawaii and Miami On My Mind . . .

Yesterday was the official National Run Day and more importantly, it was the 5th anniversary of Hiroko and I wedding ceremony.  It wasn't our actual anniversary because we were married in Japan at Kasukabe city hall in September, but waited until June to have our wedding because of work and the difficult nature of having a wedding in Hawaii and asking all of the guests to travel there from either Japan or the east coast of the U.S.  Regardless, June 1st is still a very special day for us.

Has it really been 5 years?

But, since it was in the middle of the week, we had decided to move most of our festivities to other days.  We had planned to still go to a workout class after work and then just have a nice dinner and chill, but I failed to notice that the class wasn't on the schedule this week.  Therefore we waited until the evening heat had started to die down, and went to Shelley Lake.  Hiroko wasn't feeling up to running so she walked around the lake while I ran.  I got about 2/3 round the lake before doubling back and meeting up with Hiroko to walk the rest of the way.  All told I ran just shy of 2 very sweaty, sticky, miles, which I thought was just about all that was needed because I wanted to spend some time at the lake with Hiro. All day yesterday, we found ourselves talking about how much we have changed in the last five years.  We remembered that trip to Hawaii for our wedding and just couldn't imagine that it was five years ago.  Running was a big topic in this conversation because it has unexpectedly become a major part of my life.  At the time of our wedding, I had lost a great deal of weight, but most of that was do to my lifestyle in Japan.  I still was not health conscious and running was not something that either of us ever though that I would do, let alone, have it become such a major part of my life.

Which brings me to Miami . . .

Recently I signed up to run my first Half Marathon, The Neuse River Bridge Run, and can feel that it has changed the we I am living.  I am already changing my diet, mixing up my workouts, and feel like I have a real goal to strive towards.  Also, the idea of running a full marathon has gone from "something that I might one day do" to part of a natural progression.  I have been trying to find the right Marathon that fits in with my commitments, running goals, and Hiroko and I's work schedules. 

This morning I was reading Emily from Sweat Once a Day 's blog post about signing up for races on National Run Day because she was unable to run.  One of the Races was the  Miami Marathon on January 28th, 2012, which would fit exactly into my schedule.  Also, Miami is one of those places that I have always wanted to go, but just don't have a great reason to go.  Well, it looks like I might just have a great reason to go!  None of the Raleigh Marathon's will work for me until at least April, and if I am going to travel to a marathon I want it to be some place on the east coast and warm.  The only thing that is holding me back from registering is that I haven't yet run a half marathon.  But, I really like the idea of setting up a great goal and working towards it for the remainder of the year. 

I know that I could wait and think things through some more, but that is just not my style.  This is what I want and it works for me.  So what I guess I am say is that . . . I will see you in Miami!