So there's a fork in the road...

not literally, of course. How weird would that be?

There's a point we all come to in our lives where we have to decide what we want most and how to get it. I never, EVER thought that I'd finish a marathon. I never thought I'd WANT to run. I never thought I'd find it in me to even try to accomplish a task like that. Before January and my uncle's diagnosis, I was content to sit on my ass and do very little. I was floating through school, floating through work, floating through everything. Then came the bad news from my uncle, and what followed that news, in my life, seems to me to be nothing more than miraculous. I took on the task of raising as much money as I could, of getting out of bed at 5:00 every Saturday morning to get ready for a long run, of freezing my ass off in those early winter months just to make some progress. I pulled energy out of places I never thought I had, and pulled resolve out of places even deeper. I knew if my uncle could go through what he was going to go through then I could get off my butt and do this for him. And I did...and what followed that has brought me to today.

It's time for me to start making decisions. Decisions as to whether I'm going to keep on floating through life or if I'm going to take it by the horns. Decisions as to whether or not I'll do it alone. Decisions as to whether I'm going to let another year pass me by before I really start LIVING life instead of letting it happen TO me. I'm ready to start making those decisions and so I know the next few months for me are going to be a very different time in my life. I know that no matter what happens, though, that I can make it through. If I can find it in myself to complete a marathon from where I was when I started, I can do anything I have to.

On a more upbeat note, I went to the local running store's team kickoff tonight. It was fun getting signed up and finding out the options for training. Essentially I'll have people to run with quite often so I'm really excited about starting training again. Plus I got a cool shirt and free socks and that's half the fun of doing these things, isn't it? ;)