How did I get here?

Everyone in my family runs or has run, but I held out. My high school did not offer sports on site and I didn't feel like joining the running team at the local high school, partly because I was lazy and partly because my brother was on that team already (and doing quite well). I am horribly uncoordinated, so other sports were not an option so mostly I was just out of shape.

At the end of my freshman year at Notre Dame (which was NOT that long ago, don't let anyone tell you otherwise), the Holy Half Marathon finished in front of my dorm. I said to myself: "I could do that!" so I registered only for classes that Fall that started at 11:45 or later, a practice I tried my best to keep up the rest of my college career. I didn't start running right away, I waited until I got back to campus the following Fall and started with a mile a day. I wanted to go two miles, because if you do a figure-eight around the two lakes that is two miles, but I couldn't find the second lake and I was too embarrassed to ask anyone because I thought I was supposed to know. I did eventually find it and increased my mileage enough to finish the half marathon that Spring--which inspired my dad to run half marathons, of which he does approximately 10 a year now, even though none of us watch him.

Lots of people at Notre Dame would make the trip to Chicago to run the marathon and I wanted to sign up every year, but at registration time I never knew where I would be come marathon time and thought it too risky to register. This year, I knew where I would be (finishing my first week of school--yay for the quarter system!) and knew I could do it.

It goes without saying that you need more than the challenge of completing a 26.2 race to get you through training. I will run 540 miles before I get to the starting line, greater than the distance it would take to run from my apartment in Chicago to my childhood home in Bloomfield Hills and back. The finish line cannot be my only motivation, it is too long of a journey for that. I get my motivation from my former clients, from my former co-workers who are also running the marathon and from knowing that with each step I take, I am helping the mission of Taller de Jose continue. I truly appreciate the donations I have received from everyone so far, and I am already grateful for the donations that I know are still to come.

Thank you to everyone for accompanying me in this journey!