My running story...

I have always been a fairly fit person.  In high school I played softball and volleyball.  In college I took regular 2.2 mile brisk walks (my route from my home through the local park and back) and did weekly step aerobics classes.  I even went on the occasional bike ride that started off as 4 miles but turned into 10.  But I never ever considered running.  In fact many years after graduation, a high school classmate of mine invited me to start running with him (he ran the Boston Marathon in 2007), but I balked at the idea and told him I would ride my bike beside him instead.

My husband and I were married in 2004, and as can happen to any married girl, I gained a few pounds.  Now, I am not talking about 40 or 50 pounds or even 30 for that matter.  I gained about 15 pounds from 2004 to 2005.  I was still fairly active during that time, joining the local rec center and still riding my bike, but I couldn't lose any weight.  After a move across the state for education reasons, I found myself in this new town with a fantastic gym.  I joined said gym and in early 2006 participated in a Health Challenge they were having.  During this 12 week program, I changed my eating habits, incorporated strength training into my workouts and increased the cardio.  I started tracking my heart rate and logged my meals in a food journal.  I even started running on the treadmill.  I remember how proud I was for running 15 minutes straight.  I thought I was bad ass for going 15 whole minutes without stopping once! At the end of those 12 weeks, I lost a total of 17 pounds and 22 inches from various bits and pieces of me.  Better yet, I felt so good.  I ran my first 5K in May 2008 and loved the whole race experience so much I did another one that August.  I took what I learned from the Health Challenge and continued to exercise, but even though I was changing up my routine, I felt like I needed to recharge.  Lucky for me I won personal training sessions at my gym.

This personal trainer I "won" also happened to be a former Division I college cross country athlete.  I remember telling him how I ran a 5K that year.  Gosh, I must have sounded so silly, but he suggested I shoot for a 10K next.  Well, I did and I actually ran that pretty fast -- a 9 minute/mile pace.  (Hey, that's fast for me!) That year I also ran a 10 miler.  He told me how the gym was forming a running club and thought I may enjoy training for a 25K.  I was sold.  That training started in January 2010 with the race being held in May.  I was amazed at the progress I made during that time.  Who was this girl running 10, 12, 15 mile training runs in the snow and cold?  I don't think I know her.  I can't say I crushed that 25K, but I was so proud that I finished.  I went on to do a 10K from hell (actually it is my favorite race yet, you might have heard of it, The Camp Pendleton Mud Run with my superhero Muddy Runner) and a half marathon all within a month.  I figured I trained this hard for this long why not run a marathon? So I did on 10-10-10, I ran the Chicago Marathon (that will be a post of its own someday).

                                                                
I never in my wildest dreams would have thought that I would be a distance runner. It is still kind of weird thinking how far I have come. Do I enjoy it all the time?  No.  In fact I so desperately want to love it like so many of you love it, but more times than not, I just don't.  Why do I still do it?  Because I know after the first 3 miles of any distance run it will get easier and after completing a double digit run, I feel I can accomplish anything!