Every Story Has A Beginning

I began running really running, after our second son, Arthur, was born. I found that trying jeans in the Gap left me feeling less than long or lean, not so classic, not quite skinny legged and not hip enough for bootcut. In my twenties, I ran 3-5 miles, a few times a week to stay in shape, but never long and never loved it.  So that day, after scribbling on my notepad ‘google half marathons’ in the Gap dressing room, I signed up for the Country Music Half Marathon to take place eight months later on April 30, 2007.  On January 4th 2007, I started running with two friends to train for the race. Operation Supermodel began.  As I started logging 2, 3, 4 miles, I liked it.  Just moving with friends. But when we started running 8, 10, 13 miles, that’s when I felt clear.  Sometimes running was meditative, sometimes chatty- both with and without friends, and sometimes it was just about showing up. When we first started training for the half, standing on the curb of Fleet Feet, I said to my friends, “I will never run a marathon- It’s too hard on your body.”   Nine months later, I was born at the 2007 New York City Marathon.