And So It Begins...

Today, I did it. I've been wanting to research running a marathon for some time now, but today I finally sat down and looked up some info. Just like that, my journey has been set in motion. Ever since I can remember, I've always wanted to run a marathon. Years back, when I weight a buck-30 and ran cross country, this didn't seem like a big deal.

Then, I moved to Colorado and stopped running competitively because of the high altitude -- nice excuse. Working at Chili's and putting all my athletic effort toward baseball knocked my weight up and by college -- long after suiting up for the Cubs someday passed me by as a career option -- I bulked up to 215 pounds. No, it wasn't all muscle.

At that point, I wasn't happy at all with how I felt, I was dealing with self-image issues and I wondered if working as a journalist would only make things worse down the road. It sure had hurt in college, when food runs for the sports department only helped feed my problem. My first year on a professional sports beat only took things a step further.

On the road, you eat out all the time and my first season was spent marveling at all my newfound opportunities. You should see some of the pressbox dining rooms in Major League stadiums. I had hacked off some pounds leading up to my wedding after graduation, and was back down to around 180, but the job got me again and I bounced back up to 200 pounds.

After year one covering baseball, though, I decided enough was enough. At one point in my life, I was a very dedicated athlete who never let a day go by without hitting my training goals. I needed to find that guy again. So, from October 2006 to February 2007, I changed my eating habits dramatically and began running again and I got myself back down to 165 pounds -- the lowest I'd been since high school.

All of a sudden, running a marathon didn't seem so farfetched anymore -- after all, I had run 10 miles during one Spring Training trek down in Florida. The real test would be my second year on the beat. Well, that year has passed and I'm still at 165. I've found out how to maintain and I'm now used to the lifestyle. It's still hard to hold true to my new mind-set, but I know it will pay great dividends in the long run (no pun intended).

So today, I decided that next year is the year I do it. October 12, 2008 is the Chicago Marathon. As a kid, my dad was a pastor at the Moody Church in Chicago and the marathon would run right by the front doors of the church. I always thought it'd be sweet to run by myself one day and now I plan on doing just that. Registration hasn't started yet, but when it opens, I'm signing up.

I named this blog "Project 138336" because that's the number of feet in 26.2 miles. This is my project over the next year and this blog is where I'll hold myself accountable, noting the changes in my nutrition and the weekly miles I'm logging. I got home from covering the postseason and started running regularly again on Oct. 24, and I've put in 37 miles over that span.

I'm about to chalk up 3 or 4 more in a few minutes at the local rec center. It's getting cold here in Toronto, so the bulk of my training will be indoors for starters. Wish me luck on my journey and give me a hard time if I'm slipping. The hardest step is the first one out the door.