The Bug.

I approve of this message.

I can rarely express how much I love to travel. But I really do. 

I like new places, with new smells, new dirt and new people, new food. All of it. 

It seems like so far I've been pretty successful at traveling a new place each year for the last 6 years or so.

2007- I travelled to Biloxi, Mississippi as a part of a mission trip to help with hurricane Katrina clean-up. On that trip I was able to visit New Orleans for a day. Very cool city. I'd definitely go back. 

2008- I went to Nashville for the first time. And it was love at first sight. 

2009- This was a sad year. I didn't go anywhere new :(

2010- I definitely made up for it this year and made it all the way across the big 'ol pond to Germany. Best. Trip. Ever. I've yet to top it. 

2011- Colorado. Forced to visit because Patrick had to up and leave me. (Still slightly bitter about it) It's beautiful, I get why he likes living there.

2012- North Carolina. Again another place I was forced to visit because I was once again abandoned. :) Again, lovely state. Love the south. 

2013- ? Nowhere new yet. I'm looking ahead and I'm sure I'll make it anywhere new. I've been to Nashville already this year, and New York may be in the foreseeable future, but that may turn into another trip to Tennessee... so we'll see :)

We'll just call 2009 the dark year. It was a weird year over all. So I'll excuse it. 

I want to always do this. I want to always explore new places and see new things. To be in constant exploration of this wonderful world that God has created. So I plan to. As long as it's possible.

The Goal.

On January 1st, I registered for the 2013 Detroit Free Press Marathon. Not the half.. the full. Many of you know this already, but I have decided that I'm going to actively document this process. I know I'll need it. 

So, I'm still in the prepping stage. To keep myself from getting lazy over the winter, I ran a spring half marathon. Nashville. An absolutely soaking wet 13.1. I was so upset the morning of the race, but once we got going, I really enjoyed myself. I think I PRed by like 12 seconds. So that's something considering the hills and the rain. 

July 1st is the official start of the marathon training plan. So in June I've just been running between 3-5 miles at least 4 times a week. Next week I plan on really buckling down on consistent running and strength training. 

This past week I tried watching my caloric intake through the My Fitness Pal app, so I can maybe lose a few extra lingering pounds. However, running has been terrible this week (getting too tired), and I've been extremely hungry, constantly, all the time, so I'm thinking it's not allowing me enough calories. SO I'm giving that up for now and just going to really conscious about what I'm eating. I don't want training to be ruined by me not eating properly. But I figure that's going to be a "learn as I go" kind of thing. 

So there we go. There I go. Pretty sure this is going to completely consume my life, so I'll need some kind of outlet. Plus it'll be kind of fun to document this process. 

Bring it on!!