In the summer of 2009, I decided to try running. I’d never been a runner, but why not…? I only ran 9 times in two months, and that was that.
Then in January of 2010, I decided that for my 30th birthday, I should do something cool; I decided a half marathon would do the trick. So for February, March and April, I trained hard and on May 1, 2010, I ran 13.1 miles in the American River Parkway Half Marathon. And it was actually pretty fun. But then I stopped running.
January of 2011, I realized I weighed more than I ever had, and knew that I needed to start running again. But it was clear to me that at least at this point, I was going to just run for fun, so I needed to sign up for another half marathon. Another February, March and April of training, and on April 16, I ran the Western Pacific Half Marathon. My pace was even better than the previous race, and I had a really good time.
This past Sunday I ran the Bay to Breakers 12K with 50,000 others across San Francisco, and got my best pace yet (8:49/mile for 7.46 miles). And then today I was sitting in my office at church at 2pm and realized that I wanted to run. It almost felt like I needed to run. So I went home, put on my new Saucony Omni 9s, and went out to do my 100th activity recorded with RunKeeper and I hit 400 miles. I also started off a bit too fast, but did the first mile in 7:36, which I haven’t done since high school.
Have I hit the point of running for fun yet? I’m not sure, but I’m definitely closer. One thing I know is that I’m pretty addicted to races at this point, I just wish they weren’t so expensive. There is something about challenging and pushing yourself, and competing with others that really gets my adrenaline going. So, I think I’ll be signing up for a few more races in the next 6 months or so, and am considering working on my swimming for a triathlon.
If you told me in January of 2010 that I’d run 400 miles, I’d just laugh at you. I wouldn’t have thought it would have been possible. But it is. And I’m a firm believer that if you have any desire at all to do a half marathon – you can do it. I started off with a training program after never really being a runner at all. It’s doable. I’d say that it’s more fun when you can run with others when you can, but if not – just get out there and rock out to some Eminem and P!nk while you run.
