My Relationship with Running

I have been running off and on for 4+ years. It started when I wanted to lose the baby weight of my 3 rd child and just couldn’t slim down my stomach. Believe it or not I bought a Wii Fit and started running on it. I started off with a very short time in the winter and by the spring I was running 20 minutes at a time on it. The nice weather hit Ohio and I decided to do my first outdoor run…..talk about a shocker. It is completely different running outside on the road compared to inside on the carpet. That first run was a very exhausting day for me, but I was on my way.

Fast forward to 2012….I was pregnant and was walking, running and participated in the Susan G. Komen 3 day for the Cure (20 miles a day for 3 days and camping at night). I felt pretty fit up until 3 months before I was due when kidney stones knocked me down for 6 months….a lot can happen to a body in that time. My 4 th child was born in December 2011 and I wanted and needed to get back on track. I revamped my diet and started running again. It was definitely slow go at first, but I knew that all I had to do was put one foot in front of the other and at a pace I was comfortable with. That first time out I ran a mile and haven’t stopped since.

I signed up for a 13 in 2013 challenge to run 13-5ks in 2013. I have done 10 to date….not to mention the countless training runs I do. The other night I wanted to run 5 miles which is a distance I have not hit before. I started on my journey with a comfortable 68 degrees and a little breeze going. My 18 month old went along for the ride in her jogging stroller and off we went. Somehow along the way I stopped my GPS on my running app and missed part of my mileage which irritated to me to no end. I am a very visual person and needed to see that 5 miles register on my app. Instead I saw 4.25. I finished 4.25+ miles in a little less than 49 minutes. I ran the entire time with a pace of 11:28 per mile. That is not fast by any means, but I was not in this for speed, but for distance. I did what I set out to do and ran the entire time farther than I have ever run. I had my daughter with me and loved seeing her face when we got home and she got out of the stroller. Her smile was priceless.

Next time I will “see” the 5 miles on my app, but for now I am satisfied with what I accomplished. It’s like I said earlier….one foot in front of the other. Once you set a comfortable pace for yourself anything is possible.

HopePeaceFit!