If I Had 1/10 of the Heart of Ruettiger

If I Had 1/10 of the Heart of Ruettiger I would have run eleven marathons by now. I'm going on 28 and the first time I ran a distance over the required 1 mile trial in high school was 2 years ago. A milestone in my life was training for the Madison 1/2 marathon with my sister. I had no confidence in running back then and right now what little I have is waning.
I don't have a Second. I don't have someone telling me that I can do it, or more to the point, someone who says I can't so I get motivated to prove him/her wrong. The people who get paid to cheer me on don't count. That first time training, I went through a host of runners aliments from shin splints to a sprained knee. I trained the best I could and did the half somewhat because I had the idea that people were expecting me not to.
"You've had injuries, we understand if you can't make it to the end. We're proud of you anyway for training."
I finished a bit better than I thought I would - knee brace and all.
Despite my "Rudy" story, I'm a lazy athlete who has no consistency in her regime. I seriously think I bit off more than I can chew and wonder if I'm going to get injured. This week is a step-back week, so it hasn't been too taxing on me. I skipped my short training routine today because I had to go grocery shopping and do laundry. I hate when life gets in the way.
Next weekend is an eight-miler. I'm anxious about it, like turning a blind corner. Its been kind of easy so far, but my training is going to get nothing but harder from here on out.