Running. (sorry this took a while)

As most of you probably know, I spent this summer training for a half marathon. I'm not going to be shy here, I am very proud of myself. First of all, running is NEVER something that I thought I could do. As a young child, and into my teens, I struggles with pretty severe asthma. When we had to run a mile in 6th grade for our fitness test....well, lets just say, I was last, and you probably could have watched almost a full episode of the office (minus commercials) before I finished. When I went to high school all my girl friends joined the cross country team. The thought of running made me cringe, but all of my friends were doing it, and in high school, you just have to succumb to those kinds of pressures. Let me tell you, I am so glad that I did. I loved it!! In many ways, it probably changed my life.

Fast forward 7 years. After having Harper, I decided to run a half marathon. My sweet friend, decided she was going to run with me. We lasted about 1 week before she got pregnant and decided training would be a bit to tricky while pregnant (very smart move) and I, in turn, gave up. I felt like a bit of a failure...ok....a LOT like a failure.

Fast forward 2 1/2 more years. I just had my second son, Greyson. I was feeling fat, out of shape, and frankly, a little depressed about life. I needed something. I started thinking about what I could do to help myself feel better. I needed to get in shape, I needed a goal that I could accomplish (being a competetive person this a big mood lifter), I needed something just for me. I tried running once, and it was bad. I gave it a second shot when a friend of mine invited me to run with her. I don't know if it was her sweet words of encouragement, or the motivation of not wanting to slow her down, but I ran, and it felt great! With these new found feelings of accomplishment I decided train for a half marathon....again.

Training was not easy. First, family vacation happened. I was lazy and didn't run for over a week. When I got back into my training, I was struggling. I didn't think I could do it, but I pushed through. Then, just as I started feeling better my knees starting giving me trouble. The doctor okay'ed me to run, but a decided to take an extra day off, buy new cushy shoes, and hope for the best. The day before I was supposed to jump back into training I got into a car accident and hurt my back. For 2 weeks, I was not allowed to run. During these 2 weeks fear started building that there would be no way for me to do it. I tried to convince myself it was ok. There was a reason I was giving up...I had an excuse. But I still couldn't shake the feeling of failure. That first day back running was painful. Overall I felt great, but my back did not. I knew there was no way I could get back into shape in just 2 and half weeks. With the help of my chiropractor, my friends running the race with me, and my beloved husband, I somehow kept going. I didn't let myself give up.

Also, did I mention I am still breast feeding my (then) 5 month old son? On the last few long runs I had to feed him, run, then come back and feed him again. It was tiring!! He was also in the habit of waking up every 2 hours at night to eat and I had to get up at 7am to run! This was probably my biggest hurdle...pure exhaustion. I told you I wasn't going to be shy. I'm proud of myself for doing this!

The race was hard. The sun was hot. The hills were looong. But I did it. I crossed the finish line in just over 2 1/2 hours. I'm so glad I did it, and so glad it's over :). I may do another one some day, but for now, I'm taking a break and sticking with 5k's.

I love running.