Friday, February 21, 2014

Runners Tell All: a link up!

Ok, so this is a fun blog hop/link up thing/I'm not even sure what I'm doing here. You can get back to Amanda's blog, The Lady Okie, for more information at the bottom of this page. The topic this month is "How or Why I started running in 250 words or less". So here we go!

Why I started running? Simply put: I had a baby. The multitude of reasons being I wanted to lose weight, I needed to do something to be active, and running was cheap (or so I thought). The idea of just walking out of the house, going for a run, and being done was completely appealing to me.

I started doing the Couch 2 5K program via Cool Running's site in early 2012. I was also spurred on by a Biggest Loser competition at work - which I won! My original goal was just to run a 5K. The first summer, I did that and was pretty dang proud of myself! My time was 30 minutes and some change.

I kind of slacked off during the winter, but was determined to come out fighting last Spring. I ran another 5K that Spring with a PR of 27:00 and thought "that was really fun!" Then I got the crazy idea to do a half marathon. I'm not sure what part of my brain thought 5K to 13 miles was a natural jump, but I'd signed up and committed before I knew it.

After a long, painful summer, where I wanted to quit many times, race day arrived. I was incredibly nervous, but I knew my training would kick in and carry me through. And it did! I finished my first half in 2:03:01, and couldn't have been happier! I've been bitten by the running bug. Next half-marathon: June 2014. Here I come!

About to cross the finish line of my first Half-Marathon!


Check out Amanda's story and more!



5 comments:

  1. Enjoyed reading your story! I did the similar somewhat crazy thing of jumping from a 5k to a half. But after that, there's no turning back! I just finished my first marathon in November. Good luck in June!

    ReplyDelete
  2. You are too funny :) Thanks for linking up with us! I liked reading your story. You are awesome! What a fantastic time for your first half marathon. My first half was 2:08. I was SO excited when I finally worked my way down to under 2 hours. I cried like a baby. haha.

    ReplyDelete
  3. 5K to half marathon is a big jump but you did really great! Thanks for linking up and for sharing your story.

    ReplyDelete
  4. 5k to half - heck yeah! My reasoning to start running is pretty similar - I had a kid and needed something to make me less miserable during the day to myself and to others. God bless that rascal.

    ReplyDelete