As a 20 year old who had never even run a mile until a month ago, many people have been asking me, "why the hell are you suddenly obsessed with running?" Well I am warning you now, it is kind of a long story.
How much I hated running
When I say I hated running, I mean I really, truly, and passionately HATED it. When I was 7, I refused to run after the ball during soccer games because I didn't want to, "get all hot and sweaty." When I started high school I played lacrosse until I found out that we had to run a mile during every practice, so that didn't last very long. In fact, the only sport I didn't quit because of running requirements was volleyball (I quit because at a mere 5 feet I wasn't exactly an ideal player).
It is not that I wasn't fit. On the contrary, in the last 4 or 5 years I worked out quite a bit. However, I only did weight training or yoga. Occasionally you could find me in a spin class or on an elliptical, but those occasions were few and far between.
My Inspiration
Then, last November, my roommate's (Ryan) step-mom (Kathryn) ran the New York Marathon. Since we live in New York, Ryan, his dad, a few other friends, and I all went to Brooklyn to watch Kathryn run. We were in a huge crowd of friends and family members of all the runners. It was an incredible atmosphere! I found myself wanting to be a part of in, but not just on the sidelines. I wanted to run it.
Well after 2 failed attempts on the treadmill (I gave up after 5 minutes), I put myself in the category of "those who can't run," and moved on with my life.
What Changed?
I spent this past summer interning, and (because I was always so exhausted from work at the end of the day) found myself spending less and less time at the gym until my weekly routine was completely gone. So, in order to motivate myself and get back in shape, I got a trainer. Three times a week Jen helped me focus on strength training however, she insisted that I do 10 minutes on the treadmill before each workout, then 10 minutes after (5 minutes at a walking pace and 5 minutes at a jog). In addition she encouraged me to do 10 minutes on the treadmill and 30 minutes on the elliptical on days I wasn't training with her.
After two weeks of this, I felt these dreaded cardiac workouts becoming slightly easier. I was getting bored, so I decided to increase the difficulty a little each day. By the 4th week of training, for the first time in my life (ridiculous, I know), I ran 2 miles at the same pace.
Moving Forward...
In hind site, I realized that it wasn't actually running I hated, but the discouraging pain in your side and heavy breathing (after only a very short time) that comes with being out of shape. However, I thought if I could go from avoiding a 5 minute run at all costs, to running 2 miles in just a few weeks, I could be ready for a half marathon in the spring. I was so excited about my decision that I ran straight home, demanded that Ryan get Kathryn on the phone, and picked her brain for a half hour about how to train for a half marathon.
She confirmed my thought and gave me tons of wonderful advice. What I have found to be the most important piece of advice so far was to tell EVERYONE I know about my goal. So I did, and have received nothing but support from everyone. This has really helped me stay motivated through these first few weeks because it has been quite difficult to establish a routine. However, courtesy of my wonderful friend Rose, I have a fantastic training plan that will slowly prepare me to run a half marathon in April. So far so good!
My hope is that this blog will be a way for me to share my experience with my friends and family, and stay motivated and excited about becoming a runner.
