Reasons I've Come to Love Running

Besides the obvious that I get to go to Disneyland in about a month, there are other reasons that I have really come to appreciate running and training for a half marathon.

1. It gives me something to talk about. Being a somewhat shy person I am not the best at making conversation but two times in the past week my running came in handy as a topic of conversation. First, I got my haircut and I'm never the best at holding a conversation with the stylist but I actually had a better answer than "oh not much" or "working" to the question "what have you been up to lately?" Second, I attended a networking function and it was useful small talk.
   
2. It gives me more confidence and other things don't seem as challenging. Today, I was a co-presenter at a conference. I don't have much experience with public speaking besides in grad school but I said to myself "if you can run for over an hour surely you can talk about a project that you're very familiar with for 20 minutes". And the presentation went well with less worrying that I ever would have thought possible.
3. I don't feel as guilty when I eat ice cream (light of course) several times a week during the summer.