In the month or so that I have been training for the miniMarathon, I have learned one thing. Running is hard! I don’t just mean the physical act of running…which, is very hard by the way. I mean finding the time to do it. I started off just trying to run a mile a day for 2 weeks. The first week, I got 6 out of 7 days. The second week, I think I only got 2 days in. Sure, part of it was me “being tired” and just not wanting to do it, but a lot of it had to do with life. I wake up Monday through Friday at 3:30 am, and I often work until 3 or 4 in the afternoon…sometimes later…and often I have events or other obligations after that.

If those sound like excuses, it’s because they pretty much are. Since those first couple of weeks, I have changed some of my goals and tactics. First, I force myself to run at least 4 days a week. That has been a much more manageable goal, and sometimes I do better than that. Second, I have made my wife run with me more. We are about on the same skill level, and I found that it helps having someone there with you on your level so you can motivate each other. The third thing we have been doing is the Couch to 5k program. I really want to do a couple of 5k’s before I run a marathon just to give myself an idea of how running for a long distance competitively is. Having a structured program like that is also helping.

Things are going pretty good overall, and there are some days where I actually enjoy going for a run. I don’t think I will ever be one of those people who love running but I can see the allure. I am just trying to take this training 1 day at a time, 1 step at a time.

Jesse is a member of the Lambert and Lindsey Morning Show team on 102.3 The Max. Follow his progress along with us.