Wednesday, March 2, 2011

18 Days Til The Marathon

In the beginning the runs were slow and the distances were short. I mapped out a quick loop of .8 miles in my neighborhood because I wanted to train for a 5k at my church in April. Remember yesterday was the 1 year anniversary of that first run. I started out running that loop 1 time, then walking 1, then running then walking. That gave me a grand total of 3.2 miles...actual running was just 1.6.

I did that for 5 days in a row, and it felt good, even though some of the running was soooo hard. Sometimes I felt like my lungs were gonna come up my throat and fly out of my mouth onto the pavement and laugh at me!! I think my pace would have been something like 11 minutes per mile... Like I said above... IT WAS SLOW! But hey, I was out there right? Running an eighth of a mile was more than I was doing a month prior!

After that 5th day I was feeling a pull to do more running and less walking. I remember getting out there and just going for it. In my head I was full of doubts, trying to tell myself I couldn't do it, screaming inside "No No No, What if someone laughs at me?" I guess all those thoughts kept my mind busy because the next thing I know I had made 3 laps around the .8 loop for a grand total of 2.4 miles.

I was shocked... I was in total disbelief. How could this happen?, I thought. Wasn't I about 50 pounds over weight just months before? Wasn't my diet McDonald's, Burger King, and Chick-Fil-A just a few months ago? My idea of activity was using my legs to push the porch swing.

Then it hit me... The reason I was able to run was because months prior to this moment I had taken steps to get my body ready for exercise like this... I had eaten vegetables, whole grains, fruits. I had avoided grease, fries, and soda like the plague. I had been doing the Wii Fit every morning at 5:00AM for 3 months. Aside from lots of weight loss, my hard work was paying off big in other ways... I was able to be active without feeling like I was dying!

That day I made it to 2.4 miles was HUGE for my confidence. I knew if I could make it 3 laps, somewhere deep inside of me there had to be 1 more lap!

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