I used to run as a kid lots. When I got into grade six I was the new girl in the class, just switched schools. Mr. Norris was big into running or more like looked after the runners of the school. He soon figured out that I could run. I was part of a relay team that year and I enjoyed it immensely. I felt like I belonged somewhere, and I made some new friends. Our team had done so well that we made it to provincials and we came in fourth, thanks to Joanne. She was the superstar runner, running distances that I can only dream of.
That world came crashing in for me when my mom said I couldn't do it anymore. She used the reason that I had to help the family out. That was one weekend out of the year to help my grandparents move out of their farmhouse. All I remember was getting a salt and pepper shaker from my grandma's collection and a white porcelain kitty that lit up. For the record I still have that little kitten. I never ran after that for competition just for gym at school. I ran in the Turkey trot for junior high and that was the end of any kind of running for me.
Fast forward 20 years, at the age of 35, I decided to run again. I had reached my highest weight Christmas 2008. I saw a picture of myself holding my best friend's baby and I saw nothing but a blob in place of me. How could I let that happen? I hit the gym and started running again. I couldn't make 2 km without struggling. What an eye opener that was. I didn't let that discourage me at all. I kept at it, next think I knew I was doing 5 km. I started to work more on my speed and endurance.
July 3 I had run a personal best 5k at 28:44. I have since beaten that and I can't really remember when I got my personal best. In the summer I had invested in the Nike+ adaptor for my Ipod. I really enjoy it to track all my runs. My personal best for 5k is 26:36 and my PB for 10k is 55:30. Not too bad considering I hadn't run for 20 some odd years.
Introducing running into my exercise routine helped me shed 25 lbs, that I hope to never find again. Eating healthy was a major contributor to losing those unwanted pounds, but running definitely helped. I am 10lbs away from my goal weight and I don't plan on stopping now, especially running.
Last October I decided to do the Run for the cure. With the help of my family, friends and colleagues, I raised $1154 towards research for the cure for breast cancer. That was a tough run for me. I hadn't run an actual race until then, I always ran on my own on the pathways by my house. That day mother nature did not treat us to nicely. She gave us a pretty bad snow storm. At one point I thought my nose was running faster than me. I finished with a time of 32 min I'm sure I would have done better if I was prepared for such cold weather. The start was very crowded and I struggled to get my pace going as well, so I'm happy with a 32 min finish time. More importantly how much I raised for the cause.
January 2010 I decided I was going to do a half marathon. Even when I was running, I never thought of doing a distances like this before. A half is 13.1 miles or 21.07 km, that is a lot of road in front of me. A friend had sent me a link to the Calgary Police Half for April 25th this year. I said "yeah I'm going to do this!" I started training and doing the distances required for the half for the last couple of months and I surprised myself that I was able to run 11 miles and still smile afterward. I have been feeling some bit of pain from running, but it's not going to stop me. I just have to take care of myself and keep on planting my feet on the ground one step at a time.
We went on vacation to Mexico and just got back last week. I had planned on registering for the half when we got back. When I went to the website the other day, it was full. I was bummed a bit, only a little a bit. I emailed the committee to confirm if there is any spots left and I just got an email with one person's name that is selling their registration. I may contact him, I haven't decided. My thinking is that there will be more halfs for me to register for. I found one already! The Calgary Half on May 30.
The only thing is that a couple of weeks ago I registered to run 10k for the Underwear Affair June 5th. One week after the half. I really want to do both, but is it possible for me to recover from the half and run 10k a week later.
So that brings us up to speed on my running this past year.
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