Six months ago I had just graduated from college, signed with Reebok and faced my first European racing season.  I also had three days left on my apartment lease, 14 dollars in the bank and a torn abdominal muscle.

My intention in this introductory blog was to recount in dramatic fashion the odyssey I braved between that point and my current status as Team Running USA member in Mammoth Lakes, CA.  I would have traced the dizzying, meandering path through 5 cities, 8 doctors, one surgery, 11 plane flights, and four months of nights spent almost exclusively on couches and floors and benches. Friends, friends of friends, coaches and eccentric strangers with twinkles in their eyes would have been the heroes, for their kindness tempered more than a few rough patches.  The character development, the irony, the comic relief: I would have tied your heart up in knots.  It would have been riveting.
 
What a shame, then, that I am sitting cross-legged, coffee in hand, far too content to play the battered heroine.  I'm glad to have had those dreary, aching times of near-resignation, but I'm also glad to have them behind me.  They were worth it because they brought me here.

Now, I live and train daily with Olympians and National Champions – some of the most respected and revered runners in the country.
I am, quite honestly, outclassed.

Here's my reality check:  I'm fighting just to hang on. In training sessions, I'm dropped more often than not.  I'm routinely battered, trounced, dropped and bounced – I can feel the shoe tread embossed between my shoulder blades.

That is why I won't bother to recount my last challenge; I've already moved on to the next one.  My time between sessions in devoted to slowing my breathing and getting my chin back up.  I've got enough on my plate.

 Here's my consolation: when I do manage to hang on, it's to some of the best runners in the world, and one day soon I will routinely match them stride for stride.

So, maybe my life isn't so blog-worthy right now.  But, I did come here to become a champion.  My new coach tells me he's in for the long haul, and that's all I needed to hear.  My bones tell me it's in me, my skin's been thickened along the way, and if my heart can go the distance, well, that's what fairy-tales are all about.