Journey Detroit

Girl from Detroit sharing her journey with the world.

[journeydetroit]

Well folks, I did it.  I made it 26.2 miles.  This experience has changed my life.  Last year, if you would have asked me if I ran a marathon, I would have laughed in  your face.  I ran it in 5:11.  Long journey that has occupied my life for 18 weeks.  It is over, and now I am hooked.  I'm hooked on the high you receive when you run and achieve.  I have registered for the Pittsburgh marathon on May 3, 2015.  I am pretty excited about this one, because this will allow me to improve and push my body to new limits.  I'm rather excited.

- Hollywood

[journeydetroit]

Well lovelies, I am back.  I have been so busy lately.  I ran an amazing 7 miles yesterday for my long run.  I am working on getting these long runs up to 15 before race week, but we are 55 days away.  YIKES!  I am going to do this.  I am not doing speed training this time around.  I am going for distance training.  I want to cross the finish line without dying.  This is going to be such a rush for me.  All the things that I have had to overcome have been tremendous.  The fact that my body is allowing me to run a marathon...well that is a blessing in itself.  I promise I will actually start posting times, miles and details because it is crunch time!

[journeydetroit]

In action.  3.4 miles done!  It was a shorter run today, but I did it!

[journeydetroit]

I have decided to keep a blog for my journey to train for the Detroit Free Press Marathon on October 19, 2014.  I have been training for a few weeks now and I am surprised that I have been consistent with it.  If you know me, then you will know that I have the attention span of a 14 year old girl.  One week it will be eating gluten free to extreme weight lifting to braiding hair.  However, this is something that I am passionate about.  I want to get into running as a day to day activity.  As of right now, I am reading Hal Higdon's How to Train for a Marathon, Fourth Edition.  The man is quite simply a marathon genius.  He has me roped in.  If you would like to follow him, you can do so at www.halhigdon.com. 

This will be my first marathon EVER.  To say I am nervous is an understatement.  My health was holding me back.  I take that back, my mind was telling me that I couldn't because of the ailments I have.  Living with Meniere's Disease, neurocardiogenic syncope and epilepsy has been very trying at times.  As I got more active, I started to feel a bit better and didn't have to take as much medication.  Yoga is a miracle practice for your health.  I have been doing it two times a week and seen such a significant difference.

As I was registering for this marathon it prompted you to select a charity of your choice.  Nothing stood out to me more than the Hope Water Project.  To tackle a fear and help the Pokot Tribe receive clean water wells made the decision much easier. 

As far as my training, I have been running 3-5 miles.  I will be running a 10K for the 38th Allen Park run this coming Saturday.  This will help me train for my long runs once a week! My average run time is 36-38 minutes for a little over 3 miles.  I would love to go longer and faster.  By following Hal Higdon's marathon training program, I will get there.  I have been two weeks behind on my training when I decided to do this.  Does that make me nervous?  Most definitely.  However, my goal is to finish strong!

Thank you for supporting me.  You can find my fundraiser page at

https://hopewaterproject.org/default.aspx?page=3896&person=4613

- Jessica