Reason Number One: The gift that keeps on giving

Let's get one thing straight: I swim for life, I run for fun. So why am I doing a marathon? There are a couple reasons, but let's go back to where it all started...

“Cool!” I said when I unwrapped my Christmas gift from Thomas. My 14 year old brother had given me a water bottle. But it wasn’t just any water bottle- this one had a hot pink cloth cover with a zipper pocket and- was that a hand strap?

“That’s so you can take it with you when you run,” said Thomas in a matter-of-fact voice.

“Did you see the zipper pocket?” asked my mom. “There’s an emergency identification card in there for you to fill out.”

“Yeah! For when you get hit by a car!” said Sean.

I looked at them suspiciously and thought back to a week before Christmas, when Thomas walked into the house with a mysterious bulge under his coat. He took one look at me and darted to the stairs. I smiled and asked, “Whatcha got there Tom-o?”

He was never very sneaky but no matter how hard anybody prodded, he never broke down. He had long held the reputation as the best secret keeper in the family.

“Nothing you can see before Christmas,” he said, “but you’re going to love it.”

The week passed, and my anticipation was rewarded on Christmas Eve when Thomas handed me a wrapped package that looked very much like a water bottle…

“Well, what do you think?” he asked. I looked at his expectant face and then back to the water bottle. The garish pink seemed to be mocking me. “Well, buddy, I think it’s great,” I said.

“Really? I wasn’t sure if you’d be able to use it very much.”

“No problem! I’ll just start doing longer runs so I can use it more.”

“Like, you can train for a marathon! That would be sweet!”

“Yes? A marathon? Of course. A marathon. I’m going to do a marathon.”

So there you have it. Reason numero uno. A gift that keeps on giving. Follow me on my training journey- I'll do all the work for you!