13.1 miles

That is my goal.  To run 13.1 miles. Without stopping.  Two years ago I picked up running as a hobby. I ran 5k races and eventually ran a 5 mile-er.  Last year I said that I would run a half marathon but this year I finally decided to do it...well sign up for the thing anyway.  I just finished my first week of training and oh was it a struggle. Exercise is such a struggle for me in every way shape and form.  I struggle to be motivated to get out there and do it, I struggle to keep going once I am doing it, and I struggle not to reward myself afterwards with a pint of Ben & Jerry's ice cream. When I first started running I was so motivated but I wonder if I was ever disciplined.  I am motivated all the time to do things that I really don't want to do.  I am often motivated by the lack of time in my day or the fact that I need to go to sleep soon or because I want people to see me as a hard worker or because I want to lose weight.  I have enough motivation to keep me going for a very long time but I don't have a lot of discipline.  I find discipline to be the more difficult of the two because I rarely go out of my way to find it. To me, discipline means being willing to break certain patterns of behavior that create negativity in my life.  Facing my chronic procrastination head on is at the top of my list. But the fact that I hit the snooze button five times each morning before finally dragging my body out of bed is going to be the least of my worries. I have committed to actually running this race.  It will take physical daily discipline to train but it will take even more mental discipline to run for two and a half hours straight!  Discipline starts in the mind.  Oh how hard it is to train that area of my life.  But the simple fact of the matter remains: I will succeed in running this race.  And that fact is the motivation I need to stay as disciplined as is necessary.