One Year

As I was going through my online training log last night, I realized that I started running exactly a year ago yesterday. It's all Brittany's fault really. One evening in late February last year, I was over at her house when she tells me, "I'm doing a half marathon in 8 weeks and you need to do it with me." I'm not very good at telling people no, so of course, I agreed. I figured it would be a great goal to have and a good way to lose some weight. At the time, I could barely run over a mile without having to walk. The idea of staying on my feet for 13 miles was daunting. In high school I was a cheerleader and played softball, neither of which was all that athletically challenging. I think I ran a total of about 5 miles in my 4 years there. In college, I would occasionally take up running for about a week at a time. I'd run a mile a day for a few days and then quit. The longest I had ever run at a single time was two miles, and that was once back in high school. So as you can imagine, I had a long way to go.

I would like to state up front, that I by no means recommend running a half marathon on 8 weeks of training. However, signing up for a race in the future is a great way of motivating yourself. Those first 8 weeks were incredibly exciting and uplifting. Each week was a new milestone, each long run, a new all-time high. Even though I would have to stop and walk periodically, I kept at it and finished my first half marathon. It was incredibly slow and painful, but as I crossed the finish line, my first thought was, "I can't wait to do this again!" Afterwards, I realized, I couldn't wait to start running again (as soon as my legs quit hurting). Running had gone from something I hated, and had to force myself to do, to something I looked forward to doing.

I was miserable during the five weeks last summer I couldn't run due to having 10 stitches in my foot. I missed lacing up my running shoes, I missed the time alone, and I even missed the aching and soreness that accompanied it. My first run back was pretty slow and not very long, but it felt wonderful to be back! A few months later, I signed up for my second half marathon. This time, I had a whole 9 weeks to train. This time though, it was different. My body learned the difference between real pain and simply being sore. I learned to slow down when I was tired instead of walking. Though I haven't lost a pound in the past year, (who knew that burning so many calories would just make you that much hungrier?) I feel a million times healthier. Just now, I'm getting ready to head out the door for a short easy 3 mile run. A year ago, I couldn't imagine running that far without stopping. I never believed I'd be at the point I am today.

My goal now is to run the Tokyo marathon while we're living in Japan. I'm a long ways away from that, but if I can come this far in only a year, I have no doubt that I'll be able to do it.

2/26/09 Mile time: ~13:30

Average mile time now: ~11:00

Fastest mile time: 9:46

First Half Marathon: 2:46:48

Second Half Marathon: 2:27:02

5k time: 30:14

Total Mileage: 500.1