Trials of Miles

"The only true way is to marshal the ferocity of your ambition over the course of many days, weeks, months, and (if you could finally come to accept it) years. The Trial of Miles; Miles of Trials. How could he make them understand?” 

-Once A Runner

in 2011 i signed up to run a marathon. i trained for months, trading in nights out with my friends for early morning runs and thinking twice about what i ate. there were times where i felt so exhausted and times where i felt like i couldn't eat enough to ever feel full. it was a twisted kind of love and a life changing year in many ways. all my training came crashing on me while i was sitting in an exam room on october 11 when the doctor told me that i wouldn't be running the race on october 16. i fought back tears and lost.

i dropped out of the marathon i spent four months preparing for and took the time to heal from a stress fracture and a broken heart. oh, the Trial of Miles, the Miles of Trials.

three years later i connected with the right people and found myself as a last minute addition to a group of visually impaired (VI) runners participating in the california international marathon (CIM). holy crap, there are organized groups of blind runners?? this was amazing news to stumble upon. even more amazing, CIM graciously allowed me to register late and the volunteer coordinator at United States Association of Blind Athletes (USABA) found me two guides for the race. that means i'm running my first marathon. CIM here i come!

it's been a whirlwind the past couple of weeks but oddly, things have been falling into place to make this dream a reality. another opportunity also presented itself and i was another last minute addition to a fitness campaign in SF, i joined fitmob to try out new exercise classes in the city. (full disclosure: I received the opportunity to take part in the fitmob campaign through my ambassadorship with Fit Approach. All opinions are my own.)

what is fitmob, you ask? it's a one stop shop fitness membership. what that means is for one monthly membership fee you have access to various fitness boutique studios and gyms. you don't have to worry about drop in class fees or spending hundreds each month to have your yoga class, boot camp, and spin workouts. this was perfectly timed with signing up for CIM since now i can amp up my cross training routine with barre, boxing, booty shaking dance classes and more. i love the variety of options and the chance to try out new activities that i may not ordinarily go out of my way to pay for, like capoeira. which, by the way, is a brazilian martial arts/dance combination.

because there are SO many classes i want to try out, my life has become revolved around training. i'm running, rushing to the city for a workout, working and sometimes sleeping. they say it takes a special kind of crazy to run a marathon and it's true. but it's also a good kind of crazy.

and to celebrate this good kind of crazy, i'm doing my first ever giveaway! i'm a month away of fulfilling my dream of becoming a marathoner that's taken three years and counting. one of the many, many hard lessons i've learned from my training mishaps is that one should NEVER underestimate the importance of cross training. that's why i've partnered up with fitmob to get my ass in gear for this race. as a result, you can win a $50 Nike gift card for new gear to chase your own fitness dreams! enter here. to sign up for fitmob (come get sweaty with me! and see how uncoordinated i am) the first 2000 mobbers will get $1 sign up for november.
i'm not a morning person but i find my self setting an alarm for 5-6 am daily to train, cutting out my beloved junk food (i readily admit i have a huge sweet tooth. i'm actually known as the cookie monster in some circles), and even passing on delicious craft beer with friends for the sake of trying to be my healthiest and strongest self. whenever i ask myself why am i doing this again?, particularly at times when it seems impossible to get out of my warm and cozy bed or sluggishly making my way up a seemingly endless hill, i think about one of my favorite quotes from one of my favorite books: “Running to him was real; the way he did it the realest thing he knew. It was all joy and woe, hard as a diamond; it made him weary beyond comprehension. But it also made him free.” it all becomes worth it every time i reach that sweet spot where my legs are on auto pilot and my mind is free. it's the purest joy i've ever felt when i'm completely lost in the run and i'm transcended from running to flying.

yeah, that's why i'm doing this.