I ran my first half-marathon in 2006. I honestly did not care about time or pace and I had no flipping clue what PR meant. I was already able to run a 5k comfortably, so I decided to start from there. Instead of increasing my mileage by adding a mile every week, I ran ten minutes further than the last week. The goal for my first half was to finish, and my overall time was 2:02. And that's where my running ended. My family and I moved two months later, I began graduate school full time, was working full time, and I put running aside because life got in the way.
Then came the saddest, loneliest, and most challenging year in my life. It was 2009. My husband deployed to Iraq with the National Guard, I was in the midst of earning my Master's degree and started a new career on top of single parenting. I did not have family close by to help me, and was too embarrassed to ask anyone I knew for help. I was depressed and cried every single night asking God to help me make it through the day. I'm not someone to feel sorry for myself, but I felt so alone and helpless. In January of 2010, the year my husband was scheduled to come back, I made a new Year's resolution to start running again. I decided I was going to run a Marathon to show that no matter how tough life was, I could cross the finish line. The only problem was, my schedule did not allow me to properly train, so I finished much like the way I lived my days without my husband - crawling, aching and begging to cross the finish line.
Stubborn as I am, I felt I need to set another running goal - complete a half marathon in under two hours. I figured it could not be all that challenging given I came close on my first half without trying. In January of 2011, I had a misfortune that set me back 5 months and had to start running from scratch. I began to train hard, adding speed training and attending spin classes. In January of 2012, I ran the Vancouver Lake Half-Marathon and came close to my goal - 2:01:49. Three days later, I got the news that I was expecting my second baby. My pregnancy did not deter me from pursuing my goal and I was motivated to continue running while pregnant. However, my body was not as ambitious as my mind and had to give up running after the first trimester because it was too painful on my joints (I gained a total of 47 pounds).
I did not run after my third trimester or after birth when I was cleared to start running. It wasn't until Mother's Day of 2013 where one of my friends encouraged me to run a 5k. She was with me the whole way. I could feel the flab on my legs jiggling every time I moved my feet forward. My back ached, my lungs felt weak, and my overall time was 38:09 with a pace of 12:17.
Fast forward to June 2013, where I started Insanity from Beachbody. I followed the program and did not skip a beat. It kicked my butt from beginning to end. I had registered to run a 7k with a friend two weeks before day 60 of Insanity. I was scared because I was uncertain whether I could run 4.35 miles considering I had not ran since the Mother's Day 5k, and that was not a pretty run. Needless to say, I completed the race in 45:37, a pace of 10:29!!! I had not run a single mile since my 5k in May, and with only completing six weeks of Insanity, I shaved almost two minutes off my mile. Thus, I have decided to incorporate Insanity as part of my training so I can achieve my sub-2 goal. I've started running 4 days out of the week and am doing Insanity two days out of the week. While I have not registered for a half marathon yet, I'm hoping to be ready for one by the Spring of 2014.
Running is democratic, exercise your right to run today.
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