1. a little help.

Besides making what turned out to be a half-hearted stab at getting back into blogging in October, I made another pretty serious change last month — and I’m at the point where I’m going to ask you for help.

Since I started running, I’ve been overwhelmed with the number of people who have taken the time to offer support here, at Daily Mile or elsewhere. And despite the fact that I had to take nearly a week off because of the Mancold, it’s continued to pay dividends.

I have a couple C25K workouts under my belt since I returned, and I feel like I’m mostly recovered from the unplanned week off. And that’s good, because the first of my goals is coming up in about six weeks.

I promised you when I started that I’d pick a 5K and give it a shot.

Done. The chosen race is the Jingle Bell Run/Walk on the North Shore the morning of December 10; I picked that one because we live close, the course is dead flat and Allegheny General Hospital is just a few blocks away.

(I’m kidding about that last part. Mostly.)

That will be my first 5K as a runner. I’m excited. And terrified. And excited. And terrified.

And I hope you can join me.

I know that’s a ridiculously busy time of year and I understand if you can’t make it. But if you have time — and you want to — I’d love to see you there. You can run it if you want. You can run with me if you want — although I’m still pretty much unable to speak while running, so I’m not sure how entertaining that would be. And even if you only had time to stop by the finish and watch me struggle across, it would mean the world to me.

(Also, I’ll probably need a whole bunch of people to help carry me back to my car.)

Again, I understand if you can’t make it. No worries. If you can, though, I’d love you forever.