It starts with an idea & then I think could I?

Many of my greatest accomplishments start with something I see or hear and it puts a thought in my head...could I do that? Many years ago, back when I was raising my family, I went to an obedience trial I saw a little Sheltie named Merlin. To me he was magical and amazing. He was an AKC Obedience Trial Champion. Could I do that? So I went out, bought a Sheltie puppy, gave him the magical name of Yoda. I bought some training books and he eventually became OTCH Windshadow's Master Yoda. Then I saw tracking and thought...could I make an obedience champion pull on the leash?, another book and a friend Barbara's help and sure enough we got a TD title together too.

Fast forward. About eight years ago I watched my sister Nancy with her agility Shelties Gizmo & Rush. And here again I thought...could I do that? So, I went out looking for...you guessed! A Sheltie. This time I fell in love with one a little over a year old named Nick. I promised the breeder that I would do agility with him if they would sell him to me. All the while thinking...I know NOTHING about agility. What am I thinking!? No book this time, but I found a class and got started. It wasn't long before I was completely hooked and we were competing, winning, and getting so many titles after his name it was hard to keep track of them all. Of course, there are champion titles for agility and that is what my goal became. With the help of my friend Christa to drive us all over the west we finished two NADAC champion titles and Nick became V-NATCH Paramount Winter Mist. What a wonderful time that was. It broke my heart when I lost him to cancer.

Feeling a bit lost losing my mom to leukemia (one of my biggest supporters who always cheered me on) and Nick within a month of each other I was looking for something to bring me back on track. It needed to be something different. Agility with my sweet dog Glitter was not helping me heal. This time my "could I" happened in a phone conversation with my son Neal, who had just completed a sprint triathlon. I asked him, do you think your mom could do a triathlon? His answer gave me confidence, "you could totally do this mom." Then the little voice in my mind started really thinking, are you sure you want to do THIS? Let's think about. It will involve more exercise than you've been doing. Probably some pain too. You don't know how to train for one of these. Then I answered, "Let's go online to the library and find a book!"

Fast forward to the present. I'll come back later and blog about my triathlons, but right now I am trying to figure out how or why in the world my crazy brain came up with the idea of a marathon. I don't really like running. I've never ran more than a 5K. Running has been a weak link in my triathlon experiences. I went from planning to work up to a 10K so the 5K would be easier and all of the sudden I am asking a marathoner Kelli her favorite race and I go online, find the race, the entries are open for 2011 and are filling very Quickly. This race is going to be sold out soon, I think it was one of those split second decisions you make. No time to think, no time to talk myself out of it, I just sign up and become one of the 3000 entered to run in the 2011 Ogden Marathon.

I've been reading several "first marathon" books, I'll be blogging about them later. I haven't finished any of them yet! I decide against the advice in the book where it says tell everyone what you are doing so you'll be committed. I decide to tell no one. That way I will have more time to decide if I am actually going to show up. One fatal error. I guess I hit print with realizing it and it printed out at work and my boss saw it the next morning and said, "You're running a marathon?!" I was floored, how did he know? Then he handed me my entry. So much for my big secret. Ready Set GO!