Running day

I love running.  Running has been my salvation over the years. 

You never know what your run is going to be like and the first mile doesn't count.  The first mile is painful and chaotic. It’s not really until mile 1.5 that rhythm kicks in and its mile two before you stop thinking and let the run take over

During my first mile, I was triathlon OBSESSED. First Mile thoughts were: “what am I going to wear”;”am I really going to do this”; “will I actually finish”; “can I really run 10k after biking for 40k”?  These thoughts were forced thoughts of things, I thought, I wanted to think about (or so I thought).  Mile three proved me right. 

Somewhere between mile 1.5 and mile 4.5, I sunk into a nice cadence. I stopped thinking about my breathing, my calf pain & my hip pain and let myself go.  Don't get me wrong, it’s not like running on a cloud without a care in the world, hills are hard, miles are miles and inconsiderate people still exist.

But the beauty is you care a little less and know that at the end you are going to feel great. I have allowed my running to be therapy.  I have had a million difficult conversations with the husband, bosses, family members and friends. I have planned parties & weddings and even saved the world a time or two (but couldn’t write them down).

I know running is not for everyone. My mother hates it. I became interested in running at first because, of course, of a guy.  It was during my early twenties. Even though I was indestructible, I admired people who ran. So I set my sights on figuring out why.

 The guy at the time ran 3-5 miles on a regular basis and I thought I was start with just one.  So I got in my car and clocked out a mile. Needless to say, running a mile is a WHOLE lot different than driving one.

If you are interested in starting to learn to run and don't have the endurance right now, here is what I learned to do . I started running for one minute, then I would walk until I recovered enough to run again.  I went on like this for quite some time. Pretty soon, I got up to two miles in about a half hour (not bad compared to couch potato).

When I got  hooked and my cardio improved, I would time my breaks rather than just guess so I would run for three minutes and walk for two. 

In November of 2008, I ran the Philadelphia, PA Half Marathon ( philly half )in May 2009. Jim (the husband) and I both ran the Long Branch, NJ Half Maratho (LB Half) . I think I solved world hunger then but, again, could not write it down.

Play Hard!

Laura