Day 1 officially in the books!

NYC Marathon training has begun...

So let me start from the beginning. I started running 6 years ago but haven't run much in the last 3 years. The past 12 months have been transformational for me. I was in a funk for about a year and have since started a new job, lost a bunch of weight and found my happiness again. And for some crazy reason when I get happy, I feel running. I know, that sounds crazy but being part of a running community, you realize how crazy we are sometimes and what we consider "normal" is not a "normal normal".

A few months ago, I entered the lottery for the NYC Marathon for the 4th year in a row and for the 4th year in a row I didn't get in. Even though I was pretty disappointed, instead of years past where I said, "maybe next year", since I am in this new happy place, I said, "this is the year!". This is the year I am going to check my dream race off of my bucket list. If I can't run through the lottery, my only option at that point was to go through a charity.

So what did I do? I recruited my go-to marathon buddy and one of my best friends Eliana. What did she do? She recruited her best friend Nicole. Within a few hours, we were all registered for the NYC Marathon. Eliana and Nicole will be running for Autism Speaks and I will be running for the V Foundation for Cancer Research.

This will be my 4th marathon but as I mentioned, my first in 3 years so I am basically starting from square one. The thought of training through the summer in Florida can sometimes be overwhelming but I know it will all be worth it when we cross the finish line of November 5th.

I had the idea to start this blog for the training season to share our experience with everyone and have a journal for ourselves of this crazy journey. This will be a shared blog by all 3 of us to report the good, the bad and the ugly of EVERY DAMN HOT MILE (and trust me there is a lot of UGLY when training in the Florida heat during July & August!).

I could go into the details of our run this morning but instead I will leave you with this...

Day 1 is officially in the books!

P.S. Since we are all running through charities, we all have to fundraise money. $9,500 between the 3 of us to be exact. If you would like to donate, below are the links to our fundraising pages.

Kacie's Fundraising Page

Eliana's Fundraising Page

Nicole's Fundraising Page

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Every Damn Hot Mile

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