Baby Steps

I have been thinking that it might be important to summarize what brought me to the point of actually thinking I could run 13.1 miles. Or even why I would want to. Especially since I was one of those girls back in high school that would only be involved in sports or activities that involved anything BUT running long distances. I stuck with performing in plays, dancing on dance team and sprinting in track. I tried the 400 once- did great the first 200 meters and practically crawled the last 200 (which happened to be right in front of the bleachers! Lovely.) .

Don't get me wrong, I have always admired those who could run. Primarily because it was something that I felt was far from my capability.

Fast forward 10-plus years, marriage, 2 children and a nursing career.

It started last fall after reading an amazing article from a female AZ journalist named Megan Finnerty. It chronicled her journey from party girl to triathlete (the title of her article, Club Pretty was the inspiration for our blog's title!). For some reason I felt that if she could do it, then so could I! She gave great tips that made it seem feasible, fun, and accessible to novices. I decided to follow her plan of attack and soon after joined a gym. My motivation was to lose all that left over baby weight, get healthy for my family, and hopefully do a mini-triathlon.

Baby steps. My motto.

I started with one mile at a very very very slow jog on the treadmill and occasionally around my neighborhood. I found some girlfriends who just happened to be in the same stage of life that I am in and who were runners. Thankfully, not too fast of runners either. We started talking about training to run a marathon together at the end of the year once the weather cools down. The well-publicized and inspiring PF Chang's occurred right around that time and was the catalyst for me. I wanted to be able to do that. By then, I was jogging about 2-3 miles comfortably.

For the past 9 months I have continued jogging- increasing my speed and distance. I also began hiking about 3 times a week. Something I really enjoyed and included some trail running which was invigorating. Those 2 activities began to strengthen my body in a way I feel has never before happened. Plus, I continually push past the pain which strengthens me mentally as well.

In 4 months I will run a half-marathon.