Let's start at the beginning...

4 years ago I climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro (highest peak in Africa).

On the night of the summit, I was feeling very sick, very tired, very cold, and very sleepy. I was climbing ever so slowly, switchback after switchback up the relentless scree beneath my feet...until I wasn't anymore. 

Before beginning the climb I had told myself that I would not, under any circumstances, turn around unless one of the guides ordered me to, unless the altitude sickness had become too dangerous for me to continue...

Well, I made myself into a liar that night. The words, "I don't want to continue" came out of my mouth, almost against my will and then before I knew it, my body was moving downward, quietly crying along the way - back toward the Kibo Hut where I would cry some more and dwell on how disappointed I was in my body, but more than anything I was disappointed in my mind.

I had already proved to myself on this hike alone, that my body could often do way more than my mind believed it could. I had pushed my body past limits that my mind had put in place, but when it came to that final summit, I couldn't do it.

I was devastated. I vowed that I would one day go back and make it to the top.

I've been thinking more seriously on getting back there to finally reach my goal and around the same time I was thinking this, I found myself at the (sidelines of a) finish line of a marathon in town. I was watching the runners come in, watching their faces as they crossed the line. I was moved (almost to tears) by the support of the volunteers handing out water and the fans cheering everyone on from the sidelines. Marathons are so powerful to me. Every runner has a different story, their very own reason for why they run, for why they put themselves through the training, the sweat, the black toes, the swollen ankles, and the aching knees.

It was then that I decided that I wanted to run a marathon too. It could serve for me as training for my body but also, and probably more importantly, my MIND. Perhaps after completing my very first marathon, my mind would be ready to face that mountain once again, and hopefully then, I can finally conquer it.

And so that is my plan.