Keeping your Eye on the Prize

On August 28, 2013, I began my quest to run a Half Marathon in under two hours by Spring or Fall of 2014 after a 19 month running hiatus. I gave birth to my second daughter in September of 2012, and despite being physically active prior to getting pregnant, I gained a total of 47 pounds (I started at 130 lbs) and my knees, my back, and my ankles were unable to support the extra weight. It was very demoralizing for me because I had read so many posts about pregnant women being able to run up to their due date and thought I could do the same. Learning that I could not be in the same category as the aforementioned women was humbling, and I vowed to start running as soon as I was cleared (approximately six weeks after giving birth).

Six weeks after giving birth, my body was fighting an infection (mastitis) caused by improper latching during nursing. If you are not familiar with mastitis, it is when breast tissue gets inflamed and is extremely painful. I got chills and fever and spent a considerable amount of time not only trying to recover, but trying to keep up with my daughter's on demand feeding schedule (which was every two hours). I remember reading somewhere on the internet that a Victoria's Secret model (Adriana Lima) was going to be strutting her post-partum body on the catwalk 8 weeks after giving birth and wondered, "Are these models human?" The insecure human inside me coveted to do what she did, but the sleep-deprived mentally exhausted human in me prized a warm shower and eight hour sleep over lingerie and camera lights. Instead of fretting and setting up artificial deadlines about when I would start running, I decided to honor the tremendous amount of work my body underwent for nine months and let it give me the green light to start again.

I knew I was ready to start running again in August. My body craved it, my daughter was turning one, and the weather was perfect for running. I strapped my daughter in the jogging stroller and completed 3.3 miles in 39:13. Everything about that run was exhilarating and frustrating. I was elated to be moving again, but frustrated because I was starting from scratch. It took me three weeks to reach four miles, and another four weeks to complete a 10K.

After ten weeks of pushing forward, I finally reached the ten mile mark. I'm still far from my goal, but I know I've come a long way. I'm keeping my eyes on the prize and I'm going to cross the finish line one mile at a time.