The other day when I was doing my long run I was listening to a podcast and the presenter was interviewing an elite runner and asked if they were always a runner and what made them take up running. It got me thinking about myself and how I came to love the sport of running. Misery loves company, right?
When I was in High School I ran track and honestly didn’t even like it that much. I didn’t even do it all four years. I ran the 100m and 200m. Back then the mile felt way too long for me. I would get mad at my coach when he would make me do the 400m.
Back then if you would have asked me if I would ever run a marathon, I would have just laughed and thought you were crazy to ask such a question.
Well fast forward to my college days, I still wasn’t a big runner by any means, but thought I could stand to lose a few pounds that seem to creep up in college, so I did start running a little, but 30 minutes was my limit. When I got my first job out of college, my co-worker was a runner and was training for her first half marathon and asked if I wanted to do it with her. By this time I was running regularly but never did much distance. I thought why not, how hard could it be? And oh my, it was! Looking back there were many reasons why it was, no training plan, didn’t fuel properly, cotton everything, etc! I told myself that I never wanted to do that again! (If you want to read about that race, you can find it HERE).
Four years later, I ran a 5k with my mom and sister down at Disney World. We had a blast! Now we did take our time and stop for pictures and got the most out of what the race had to offer. However, after I completed it, I thought if we do this next year I want more of a challenge.
This brought me to my second half. We ran the 5k the next year, and the following day I ran the half marathon. It went much better than my first half experience that was five years prior.
This brought me to my second half. We ran the 5k the next year, and the following day I ran the half marathon. It went much better than my first half experience that was five years prior.
That spring I got involved in a running group. At first I wasn’t sure if I would fit in, because these were “serious runners” that ran many races and had a lot of marathons under their belt. I didn’t think of myself as a serious runner, I just ran when it was convenient and fit in my schedule since I was a flight attendant during this time (so you can imagine the crazy schedule).
I began really liking this running community and I felt like I was a part of the group. I even started running with other people on certain days without the group. I was running more than I ever had and upped my mileage and began really liking the longer runs. During long runs, there is plenty of time to talk and conversations come up. During one run my friend asked me why I haven’t ever run a marathon. I told him that I was a sprinter in school and never have been a distance runner. He looked at me and said, “Well you’re doing it now, and besides you never know unless you try. Wouldn’t you want to try it and say you have, than ever wonder what if?” For the longest time I kept thinking I never wanted to pay money to be miserable.
I began really liking this running community and I felt like I was a part of the group. I even started running with other people on certain days without the group. I was running more than I ever had and upped my mileage and began really liking the longer runs. During long runs, there is plenty of time to talk and conversations come up. During one run my friend asked me why I haven’t ever run a marathon. I told him that I was a sprinter in school and never have been a distance runner. He looked at me and said, “Well you’re doing it now, and besides you never know unless you try. Wouldn’t you want to try it and say you have, than ever wonder what if?” For the longest time I kept thinking I never wanted to pay money to be miserable.
But the more I thought about it, the more he made sense and I wanted to take on the challenge. Ok, so I would run a marathon to prove to my friend I could. One and done right? Well let’s just say I'm now training for #13 and going strong! By the way, we are still very good friends and to this day still train often together. I guess I have to thank him for believing in me when I didn’t believe in myself.
What made you take up running? Did someone have an influence on you when you first started running? -L