My name is Dani Robbins and I am 17 years old. I started running in 7th grade when I joined the track team. I was a sprinter because that's all I thought I could do. I never thought I would be able to run a mile straight, much less a marathon. When I went to the track one day, I decided to try and make at least one mile. A mile later, I realized it was hard, but I did it. Soon, I was running a mile every other day, and started adding to it.

I signed up for my first 5K and ran it with my sister in Atlanta. Running soon became part of my routine. I am in high school and take all advanced classes and tend to have a lot of stress during the school year. Running gives me an outlet that nothing else has been able to do. I can zone out and have the time to not have to worry and think about everything that I have to do. I don't know what I would do without it.

When I decide to run a marathon, it was a little spontaneous. I remembered back to my first 5K and how impossible I thought 3.1 miles would be. I had always thought how it would be impressive to be able to run a marathon, and I thought, “If I just try, I could do it.” So then and there I decided to run a marathon, and my deadline was my 18th birthday in October.

When I told my parents I was running a marathon, they were against it at first, and then I think they didn't believe I would actually follow through. Here I am, signed up for the Big Cottonwood Marathon, training every week, and on the road to running my first marathon. (Update: Dani completed the Big Cottonwood Marathon – her first ever – in 4:11).

I want to inspire other people who think like I used to - that something this big is unimaginable and impossible. I want people my age to “Go Big” and do something great. Anything easy isn't worth doing. There are days that training is hard or I have to really drag myself out of bed, but at the end of the day I wouldn't want anything else.

As Mark Twain said, "Twenty years from now you'll be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the things you did."