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Amanda's post today got me thinking about when I started running. In the beginning it seemed like just a natural progression from all the walking I was doing. At that point I had lost 100 pounds in just over 8.5 months, mainly by walking 6-10 miles a day. I knew I wanted to push and lose at least another 20 and I figured running would help those pounds come off.
While weight loss was an initial goal, there was also an "unspoken" goal of wanting to be a "runner". You see, all of my life I had envied runners. I would see them, pounding the pavement as I drove past and I wondered what they knew that I didn't.
Growing up, I always equated running with a form of punishment. This is apparently a pretty common childhood theme, because Amanda mentioned the same thing. In elementary school it was the dreaded 8 minute mile for the Presidential Fitness Test. I stressed and worried and plotted how to get out of it, but the day would eventually come. Inevitably I would start out super fast and peter to a walk. Nothing like the taste of failure at an early age.
Then in high school I played tennis. I LOVED it and had dreams of "making it big" in the tennis world. Well, when we lost matched guess what we had to do? RUN! My tennis coach doubled as the cross country coach and he would "punish" us by making us run.
I HATED it.
Fast forward to last year and the idea of running started sprouting in my mind. I started reading running blogs and realized that some people actually LOVED running. How could they love something I feared?
So I gave myself a goal. I would run a 5K. That was it. I wanted to prove to myself that I could do it, but I had no intention of ever running a longer distance. In fact, on several occasions I made the comment that I could understand the "real world application" of having to run 3 miles. It was conceivable at some point in life I *might* have to run away from a "bad guy" and being able to run 5K could come in handy. BUT since I am rarely more than 3 miles from civilization, I didn't feel the need to run more.
Well, November 1, 2009 was my first 5K. I ran it and loved it. That day I started searching for a 10K.
My family teased me and reminded me of my "bad guy chasing me" philosophy. I said, "Yeah, yeah... but THIS is it. I just want to see if I can do it."
Well, I trained for the 10K. And then the race was cancelled. I was bummed... until I ran across an upcoming 1/2 marathon. On the beach. At sunrise. That offered seashell medals. I was in!
Again, I completed training and as the race loomed... .I got a stress fracture in my ankle. Another race fell through my fingers. It was tough. I had the miles in and I WAS ready.
On race day, as I cheered my husband across the finish line. A new dream was born. I WOULD run a full marathon.
I will prove to myself how strong I am.
And I plan on having fun along the way.
Thanks for all the suggestions on training plans, I will be sharing my plan next week, along with some super duper top secret good news that has kept a smile on my face.
How's THAT for a cliff hanger? :)
(Did I tell you my husband and I are running the marathon together?)
How did you get into running?
Was there ever a point in your live where you HATED running?
Just for fun... any random guesses on my super good news?