To be honest, I wasn't entirely sure that I would return to this blog, but here I am...! Excited to be back.
Among many things, I wasn’t convinced that continuing to write/share about my experience would be a pursuit I would continue. For all the blogging naysayers out there, this is my response to your naysaying...
After mulling it over for a good while I determined that writing, at
least for me, feels much more about celebrating accomplishments than it does about
publicizing my life. Additionally, it has been helpful for me to share goals
with friends and family, providing an extra level of personal accountability.
This blog has been a useful medium through which to share and commemorate successes,
as well as the journey along the way. I’ll also share this little secret for
folks who feel blogs are meaningless or narcissistic; I have a simple (and
effective) remedy for your negativity: don’t read it :) Anyway, enough of my soapbox...
Here I am, ready to embrace it again!
It has been quite a roller coaster of both triumph and disappointment
since I set out to run my first distance race just over two years ago.
My original plan was to train for a full marathon, quite the
undertaking considering I hadn't run a mile since college. I considered myself to
be an ‘athlete’ most of my life, with many channels for my competitiveness including
basketball, volleyball, softball, flag-football and track… to name a few.
Having a predisposition for sports, however, does not guarantee that a person
can lace up some fancy running shoes and step out the door to run 26.2 miles. I
discovered this the hard way, as I’m sure many do.
I learned quickly to be both kind and patient with myself, which has,
in a broader life sense, been something that I have always struggled with. I
have always believed it imperative to have high expectations for oneself, to
continually grow, learn, accomplish… but this needs to come hand in hand with open-mindedness,
perseverance and self-love. While it has been incredibly important for me to
set goals throughout this journey, I also came to realize that the path of pursuing
those goals is more important than the ultimate achievement itself. So it has
been, among many things, a journey of learning.
Early on in my training, it became evident that perhaps a half marathon
was a more realistic distance to attempt, at least initially. So back in the
spring of 2013 I ran my first half marathon up in St. Cloud, Minnesota (shout
out to the Earth Day Half… a great introductory race!). Taking into account the
18 degree temperature and fresh blanket of slippery snow the morning of the
race, I was thankful to finish it and not break my neck in the process. It was
challenging, but attainable, and damn did I feel good afterwards.
My first real
experience with the often fabled ‘runner’s high’ and that was that, I had a
newfound (healthy) addiction.
A tumultuous summer and fall following that first race left me with
very little mileage to tally on my training log. I didn’t really approach
running in a serious way again until nearly a year later. Last spring I decided
to once again focus on a goal (this seemed to be the only way to kick start the
process for me). I had originally registered for the Summerfest Rock ‘n’ Sole
half marathon for the summer of 2013, as it was to be the second race of year
one. However, that aforementioned tumultuous summer had meant a deferment for
my registration until the summer of 2014, so the story continues…
Half marathon number two would be that deferred race in
Milwaukee, WI, last June. I had a pleasant surprise when I learned that an
AmeriCorps friend of yore, Hanna, was registered to run the same race! A fun
reunion on top of everything else. Half number two was a dream compared to the
first undertaking. Not only was I mentally prepared, but the weather was
perfect. I will not say that I trained as well as I should have, that would be
a gross exaggeration of the truth. I did some training, but was fairly lax with my plan. A
few would point out that binging on Burger King the day before the race was
also not in my best running interest… heh…
Luckily, it worked out alright… I was thrilled to
better my previous time by 10 minutes (although disappointed to miss the two
hour mark, an undeclared goal, by 27 short seconds). I vowed to be better
prepared the next go around, but overall – phenomenal.
History repeated itself and I again took a (long)
hiatus from the training plan. Among many life changes of 2014, I also moved
across the country (hello Colorado!). It took a new friend to light the running
spark in me again (thanks, Sarah!) and that finally brings me back to the
present.
This weekend was my first run of 2015… oh who am I kidding…
it was probably my first run since last summer! A leisurely 2.5 miles around my
new neighborhood in Denver, mostly to make sure my lungs had at least started acclimating
to the elevation (I would not have been entirely surprised if I had bent over
wheezing after a half mile…). To my unexpected delight, it was actually a lovely
short run. I am back to feeling that familiar sense of accomplishment after a
workout, and excitement for things to come.
The first race on the horizon is just about 3 months
away on May 30th! Sarah and I will be running the Big Mountain Trail
Run (http://www.bigmountainar.com/)
in Cheyenne Canyon outside of Colorado Springs. We’ll be running the half
marathon distance… but this will be my first distance trail run. I’m a little (okay,
a lot) intimidated, but mostly incredibly excited. It will be a new challenge
and I can only imagine how fun and gorgeous the course will be, running through
the foothills. Luckily, we’ve planned it with enough time to have three months
of training before race day.
That means that training starts… this week!
Stay tuned… my next entry will include the race plan
for 2015… with a lofty end goal :)
