Remember a few weeks ago when I said I wasn’t going to have a bucket list. Instead, I was going to use the Jared Allen philosophy of finding something to do.. and then do it?

I’ve found an adventure: I’m going to run a half marathon.

Lots of people run… and I’m going to be one of them. I have a huge path outside my front door, and the lakes are just feet away from that. I’m out of excuses. I need to lace up my sneakers and just do it.

Two weekends ago I cheered on my friends as they ran, and while I’ve never, and I mean NEVER been a runner, something clicked. I was jealous. I really wanted to do it.

The Twin Cities marathon just announced it’s starting a half marathon, it’s called “Red, White & Boom.” It’s on July 4th. That’s my goal. I’m going to run in it.

Tonight, I told my co-worker Heather about my goal. She’s a veteran marathoner. She’s the type of girl I’m innately jealous of because she actually enjoys running. She loves to run so much, she blogs about it.

Me, not so much. But I, too, will learn to love it.

So Heather has a new official title: she’s my half-marathon mentor. She said she’ll give me information I need to be successful, and the schedule train for all 13 miles. Apparently it’s important to train your feet for the marathon, not just your endurance and heart rate. She also told me to put it in my blog so I have to do it.

Part of the reason I want to run is to say I’ve done it. You get bragging rights. And once I do a half, I’ll be able to run a whole… and then you get a medal. The other reason I want to run is for my health. It’ll be a good way to get back in shape and clear my head.

It’ll probably be painful. I’ll likely want to quit. But I’m really looking forward to running across that finish line in July.