A little over a year ago I was on a plane to Madrid talking to mon mari about running. I told him I thought running 26 miles was just ridiculous and swore up and down that I would never run a marathon. Never ever ever.

Never ever ever should be banned from leaving my mouth.

Since December I've been planning my weeks around a marathon training schedule and wondering how the heck I got myself registered for running such a silly numbers of kilometers. I may not be fast, super strong, or have a big race under my belt (yet!), but I'm a runner now. I know because I've got the gear and once I've got the gear, I'm in. In like Flynn. But, the transformation to runner started before my latest gear purchase (thank you Planet Jogging!). My running fever boils down to three things:

(1) Friends who've inspired me. Holy Hannah I have a lot of copains who get their sneakers nice and worn in. First Richie Rich completed the 2011 Paris Marathon, then Amanda & Marissa did a 10 miler in Philly, then Betsy did a 5K, Elizabeth put her all into Boston, and Dee got 'er done in NY in November. This small list doesn't even include the gazillions of running bloggers who fill me with fitness envy and admiration (um, hi Runner's Kitchen and Lauren's Road Less Traveled). Clearly all the cool kids were doing it and I wanted in.

(2) Paris. Paris is usually all that and a bag of chips, but when it comes to exercising on the cheap the city offers few budget friendly options. With a pair of sneakers and a set of workout clothes (and let's not forget a real bra ladies), you're pretty much ready to hit the pavement. Any sport can get expensive when you convince yourself you must have the newest equipment on the street, but you can keep things pretty minimal with running. (Coming from me that means a lot considering I've pinned about 10 running skirts on Pinterest.)

(3) Exercising more means I can eat more. Who thought exercising more equaled losing weight? I mean really. That's silly. Clearly when you burn more calories, you should stuff your face. Worst advice ever. Don't listen to me. But it is seriously hard not to use training as an excuse to binge and it is ever so easy to wolf down a few (extra) pancakes after a long run. Mama Pea's Gluten-Free Almond Blueberry Pancakes are keeping me very full and happy.

Now I just need to keep all this training up post marathon and beyond. Running for life, yay! (Probably not, but I can pretend I'm down for being 65 and running 5 times a week.) The thing is, a passion for staying fit is what got me into this running business, but it has become so much more than that. Like new friends (Go say hello to Jayme. She's awesome and I'm so thankful for our long runs together!) and winning things. Yep, winning things. I don't care if they're participation medals. Medals are medals and I'll run for fake gold medallions any day.