tights, shoes, ipod...i'm good to go

i bought real running shoes last night.

this means that now, wearing my shoes, my black running tights, and my new shiny special atheletic shirt...i'm starting to at least play the part of a real runner.

i played the part awesomely well tonight, if i do say so myself! my initial goal in my plan to be a runner/train for a half marathon from scratch was to be able to easily run from my apartment to the intersection of alexander road and canal point boulevard (which is anywhere from 3-4 miles round trip, depending on whether you use mapquest or google maps or yahoo maps to try to measure it). another more recent goal was to be able to successfully run a 5K in under 30 minutes (i'm a beginner and i'm slow...no laughing at me!).

tonight was good for both of those goals. i made it to alexander and back, running nearly the whole way (which means that i will soon be able to comfortably run a 5K), and in just over 30 minutes (which means that i will soon be able to cut back at least a minute or two on that time). i returned to the apartment absolutely GIDDY. not only will i be able to run a 5K by the end of november and feel pretty good about it, but tonight also made me want to be able to run a half-marathon more than ever. soooo....

i want to run an actual 5K sometime soon. and...should i actually participate in a half-marathon instead of just training for one (to prove that i could someday run more than 10 miles at once)?

i was reading an online running magazine earlier, and started to doubt that i could ever turn into a real runner. but i am much happier now! i can do it! :)