On October 16th, I will walk a half marathon.

This is either the bravest or the dumbest idea I have ever had in my whole entire life (and I’ve had some pretty harebrained ideas). A half marathon is 13.1 miles of nonstop movement. In addition to committing myself to endure 13.1 miles of nonstop movement, I have also committed to complete that 13.1 miles in less than 4 hours.

So in a nutshell, I have created a BIG HAIRY ASS GOAL of walking 13.1 miles nonstop in less than 4 hours time at the rate of 15 minutes per mile. Today I can walk an 18 minute mile for 3 miles and then I need a nap. A loooooong nap.

Now I know that there are people out there who do full marathons (26.2 miles) just because it’s Tuesday. I personally know people. People who are in my immediate circle. People I have drank coffee with (well tea, I’m caffeine adverse) who are in fact…runners. I like these people. I trade banter with these people. These people and I can sit on committee meetings and plan and plot the recession away. But I know that even on my best day, with my hair up and my trainers laced up…

I am not one of those people.

Runners are their own tribe. They have hype men and alpha leads. They move in packs even when they are only 2 of them. They run no matter the weather. No matter the altitude. They like mountain air and the feel of the pavement or gravel or grass or dirt beneath their feet. You see pictures of runners and you feel…inspired.

They are not my tribe.

My tribe are walkers. We don’t have hype men. There are no alphas. Every now and again there will be a pace setter among the group but even they walk at a conversational pace. See runners don’t talk and run. But walkers do talk while we walk. My tribe may not be first but we ain’t last. Well, sometimes we’re last but we still finish!

I love my tribe. I love how we always seem to find each other. Head nod to the left. Small smile on the right. Wave. Slight gesture as the runners sail past us. We’re not bothered. We’re here. We haven’t given up. We’re still moving. And then afterwards maybe a donut.

But with a 7 month timeline to move from not quite couch potato to half marathon finisher I gotta amp up my game. I need a plan. A real plan that I will work more diligently to follow than I do to locate the loopholes that allow tea cakes and orange slices as lunch appetizers (my new term for mid morning snacks).

I need to increase stamina, strength, and speed in order to walk at a continuous 15 minute mile pace for 13.1 miles without doing injury to myself (or others or property). I figure the first thing I really need to get a grip on is consistency. The story of my life is that I am consistently inconsistent in all things related to self-care. All the single mamas in the house raise your hand.

Here’s the things though as I was walking the track today, pushing myself to complete 2 miles in 30 minutes a thought occurred to me…

I can do this.

For the first time since I made up this idea to walk a half marathon, I had the thought (without the witty banter background) that I am perfectly capable of training for and completing a half marathon. WOW. Let that sink in for a minute.

I am capable of completing a half marathon. Fully capable.

I just need a plan. I need a plan that will work for me and I need a space where I can hold myself accountable for following through with that plan.

That’s where you come in. Writing is my accountability partner. It’s what I do. My goal is to use this blog over the course of the next 7 months to log my progress toward the 13.1 mile race. I’ve always believed that writing and walking for me go hand in hand. I’ve often said that if I could walk, write, and meditate daily I’d be a completely sane woman.

This is my first step in testing that theory.

Let’s see what happens next.