I don’t remember what finally made me decide I wanted to run a marathon.

Oh, there were probably many factors involved, most of which would count as the usual suspects I’m sure; being able to call myself a marathoner at parties and sound like a badass, big honkin bling, the fact that a track rival from high school was now a Marathon Maniacs member and was running the things like it was some sort of uncontrollable bodily function, the opportunity to agonize one’s body in exotic places, and all that. I vacillated over whether to even try for some time, but as I slowly got back in shape from years of self-inflicted lethargic purgatory it seemed to me that to make the attempt at least was now falling into the outer provinces of the realm of possibility.

So began the internet searches for training plans and wading through the titanic amount of information and opinions available out there. I was never under any misapprehension that it would be as simple as putting one foot in front of the other, but just getting some sort of cohesive plan figured out proved to be daunting. However, eventually I got to the point where I felt like I could at least move forward.

I do remember when I decided it would be cool to run the Great Lakes Marathon Series.

I found out about the series through the Rite Aid Cleveland Marathon website when I was scouting it for possible entry. For the uninitiated, the GLMS is a series of 25 marathons taking place along the shores of the Great Lakes. The series’ webpage claims it is for “runners who are interested in experiencing a variety of marathons along the Great Lakes, while at the same time making a positive impact on the ecosystem of the Great Lakes Basin.”

Super. Me, I just happened to note that 15 of the 25 marathons were within 4 hours drive of my house, which appealed to both my sense of activeness and laziness simultaneously. I considered this a win-win.

Here’s the thing, though. I still haven’t run a single marathon yet. I’ve always had a tendency to get so far ahead of myself I’d need a piggyback from Usain Bolt to catch up. My plans tend to smack of grandiosity, and though sometimes they come to fruition, they definitely often end up with me forgetting I ever made them and wandering off to eat a sandwich. I have no idea which will happen here. But dammit, I’m gonna give it the old college try. I do have some reasons to stick with it which will probably become clear. And I’m gonna blog about it because I enjoy writing, it’ll give me a creative outlet which I probably need, and, well, because I’m self-indulgent. And being self-indulgent is what the internet is for, right?