Why now?

So, for some reason I've decided it is time for me to get back in shape. After graduating college, I was almost fifty pounds heavier than when I started college. In high school I was a Varsity athlete, and in college I was more of a varsity drinker and eater. I loved every second of college, and had more fun than anyone ever should, but I'm in the real world now and I should probably start acting like it.
Okay, maybe 'real world' is an understatement. I'm in law school, not quite on my own yet. But law school isn't college, its more like a job, and it's totally unacceptable to sleep through your tuesday morning class cause you're hungover from Magic Monday. Over the summer I was living in DC with my boyfriend where both of us were interning on capitol hill. It was interesting some time, boring most of the time and hot all of the time. I realized that my size was only making dealing with the heat worse. I was out of shape and sweating 24/7. I made the decision to go on weight watchers and try to shed some weight. I told myself I didn't have time for exercise, when in reality I just didn't want to be embarrassed at a gym. Regardless, I lost 40 lbs on weight watchers and felt better about myself and my body than I ever had before, including my high school years. I didn't see a need to start working out as well, I had lost the weight and looked great, no reason to add torture to that. On spring break I went down to Florida to visit my parents. My sister was also down before leaving for her spring training trip for her high school crew team. I volunteered to go to a personal trainer with her. She had made a few appointments with one nearby to get ready for her training trip. In those few hours we spent at the gym that week I remembered all the things I enjoyed about being active in high school; the competition, the feeling of accomplishment, the strength, the power. When I got home my boyfriend suggested joining a gym. I was a little taken aback by his suggestion at first, immediately going into defense mode at the mere suggestion that I should get in shape, but he explained that he simply meant that I liked being active. It seemed like a weird statement, of course I don't like being active. It hurts, its hard, its sweaty and it makes me sore for days. But.. I do like being active. I felt so good coming home from the gym after working out. I felt like I had done something important, I felt healthy, I felt strong and I felt accomplished. So I took his advice and joined a local planet fitness. Despite my new smaller size, I still felt like that fat girl, so I wanted a no frills gym, and was drawn in by their "judgment free zone" policy. I knew that paying for a gym membership would be enough to motivate me to get there a few times a week, but wasn't convinced I would make proper use of my visits while actually in the gym. I know myself well enough to know that if there is a challenge, I'll work to meet it, especially if there is someone else depending on me. If I'm just going into something alone with no defined goal, I quickly get bored, lazy and quit. So I called up my best friend Dom, who unlike me remained a committed athlete after high school, rowing through college and then joining a local team after graduating back in her hometown of Montreal. She said she would be up for signing up for some races with me. So we did some searching and compared our schedules and ended up signing up for a 10k in Montreal this coming September. We also planned on registering for the ultimate prize- The Disney Princess Half-Marathon in Orlando in February 2014- once registration opened up in June. Between her rowing schedule, and the distance between us, it would be hard to plan on anything more. So I called my brother- by no means a serious athlete- and convinced him to commit to a 5k this coming June with me. Harry and I have similar athletic histories- we were athletic through high school, then went to college, stopped working out, and gained weight. Harry has the same bug I do- we both need a kick in the ass to get moving, but love being active once we get back into it. So we made this commitment together, knowing that if we didn't train seriously we would be letting each other down when race day came. I got online, did some research on typical training plans, and came up with a 22 week half marathon training schedule for beginner runners. I put it into my schedule leading up to the Disney marathon I would be taking on with Dom, then filled in the remaining time between now and that 22 week mark with a 5k training plan to get me ready for the race with Harry. My schedule basically has me running Monday, Wednesday and Friday. I run three miles on Monday and Wednesday (which is approximately a 5k) and then do a longer distance run on Friday. For now, Fridays are limited to three miles as well, but I plan on slowly increasing the distance of my Friday runs as I get further into my training. Until I know what I can really do, and how fast I should be running I can't really make any judgment calls about where my fitness level is and what I should be pushing for. I'll be recording my thoughts and progress after each run so that when I have a bad one I can compare it to a good one (if any of those exist). I hope forcing myself to record my progress and think about what I am doing will keep me on track- especially over the summer when I will spend two months working full time at the PA Department of Revenue, and one month studying abroad in Florence. I want to make sure that I keep on my training- even when the temptations of italy and its glorious cuisine are surrounding me. So, thats my story, this is my plan, and we will see just how long I can stick to it... or if I fail miserably and end up drowning my sorrows in a pint of Ben and Jerry's half-baked... or cannoli... or phish food.. or Americone Dream... I always did appreciate variety