I am a girly girl. I like purple, rhinestoning things and Taylor Swift. I freak out if I see a spider. I also still get a little envious when I see my high school friends’ prom pictures on Facebook. (Oh, the dresses!)

Like most girly girls, I’m not a huge fan of broken nails, dirt or smelly things. But, at some point in every girly girl’s life, there comes a time where she has to break out of her comfort zone and come face to face with dirt, stench and, unfortunately, broken nails.

For some, it’s going to spin class at six in the morning. For others, it’s skydiving. For me, it’s running a marathon. Yes, the girl who freaks out when her hair gets messed up is running a marathon.

Why run this marathon, you ask? For one, I’ve noticed that too many of my friends have created boundaries for themselves””boundaries that keep them closed off to putting themselves out there and trying something new. It’s easy to fall into an uninterrupted routine, and do the same thing every day. I found myself falling into the exact same trap.

“Running such a long distance is really challenging, not just to your body, but it’s also a mental challenge,” Jolene Millar, a triathlon club member, said. “It’s rewarding to see just how much you can push yourself mentally, because your mind won’t want to do it.”

Enter the Two Cities Marathon. Like most of you, I’ve tried driving down Shepherd around the beginning of November and found that it’s closed. Until now, I’ve always thought, “Those dang runners. Of all the days to close down Cedar and Shepherd. Why does it have to be this intersection?” This year, I will be one of those annoying runners.

For those of you who know what it’s like to run a marathon, you know the training is probably one of the hardest things you’ll ever do. The dark, cold, early mornings and the running itself is much less preferable to sleeping in until half an hour before class starts. (Unless you’re a girly girl. Then you get up an hour before to do your hair.)

To those who aren’t into the marathon thing, I feel you. Until quite recently, I wasn’t either. Running for hours at a time? No thanks. But at the same time, is it something that I can grow by? Absolutely.

Friends of mine who have run marathons, half marathons, 10ks and the sort have described it as something that made them change. In addition to all the hundreds of good reasons to run a marathon, various causes included, growing as a person is something that all of them mentioned as a reason to run anywhere between six and 26 miles.

So, for this girly girl, going through months of training for my first marathon is sure to be an experience that involves messy hair, broken nails, stinky clothes and early mornings. But if there’s a sense of accomplishment waiting for me at the finish line, then maybe it’ll justify all the beauty sleep I’ll lose.