Reed Dunn, Senior Recruitment Marketing Manager:

I am in the home stretch. And speaking of stretch, I cannot stress the importance of stretching enough.

After my 12-mile run this week – the last long run before the Dec. 4 race – I found myself at the gym foam rolling, stretching my hamstrings and stretching my hamstrings some more. Then I stretched my hamstrings.

Seriously, folks, they were tight. But that’s normal, I suppose.

I had the good fortune of walking into the gym when my trainer, Kyle, was just finishing up with a previous appointment, so he supported my stretching and helped get me loosened up. He has been a tremendous supporter throughout my race preparations, and he’s certainly been a huge motivation for me to keep pushing myself.

Now that I’m feeling like a real runner, I didn’t have much reservation about running the 12-mile distance. I didn’t necessarily want to do it – mostly because of the time commitment – but I knew it would be an easy enough task to complete. I ended up finishing the run in two hours and a minute, which is a bit slower than I hope to finish the entire 13.1 miles in early December. I’m counting on some race-day adrenaline to kick in, and then I’ll easily be able to shave some time away to meet my goal of finishing my first half marathon in less than two hours.

After talking with my co-worker and avid runner Michelle about what course to take for the 12-mile run, I set off from my apartment through downtown Seattle and along the waterfront around the edge of the west side of the city. My run started just as the sun was dipping down behind the mountains and that was the perfect distraction to get me through the first few miles. When I’ve run longer distances, the first couple of miles always tend to be a bigger challenge.

My mind was overflowing, as well, so the run ended up being very therapeutic. I have found the longer-distance runs I’ve completed throughout the last several weeks really have been the time for me to recharge my brain and work through any stressors that may be weighing me down at the moment.

That never seemed to be the case when I was running shorter distances. Those runs were always about just finishing the three or four miles I set out to complete. Most of my energy was focused on just that one piece.

Now, things really are different. Running really has become a part of me – and in such a short time. A lot of people told me this would happen, including Kyle and Michelle, but I didn’t really believe it. Two months ago, I really did hate running. I just knew it was a good thing to do. So I kept going.

Here I am, just a couple of weeks and some change away from the race, and I have to say I’m feeling pretty good about myself. Another goal is almost under my belt and, as much as I cannot believe it, I’m now focusing my energy on getting friends to join me in my second half marathon – the Rock ’n’ Roll series race next summer in Seattle.

Reed Dunn is senior recruitment marketing manager at Alere Wellbeing. Follow his journey with regular updates on the Alere Wellbeing blog, as he prepares to run his first half marathon on December 4 in Las Vegas.