Recently, there's been quite the discussion going on in the comments of this blog about what a slow runner I am. Some readers think I'm wasting my time signing up for a half-marathon in November since I'm not running a seven-minute mile (I'm more around 11 minutes).

Sure, that's not breaking any land-speed records, but it's what pace my body naturally lands at when running.

The reason I'm bringing this up is because discussions like this are what always kept me from running or even attempting to run in the past. Let me explain ...

When I started out to become more active and document my journey on this blog, I knew there were certain things I'd have to accept.

I knew I'd have to deal with sometimes (but not always) negative comments from people. It just comes with the territory of putting yourself on display in a public forum. Plus, I've made new (real-life) friends through this blog, and have gotten invaluable support from my readers, Twitter buddies, and social networks.