My Running Experience

One day I joined a gym that was in the same building that I worked in. I started out by doing some easy exercises like walking on the treadmill or some step aerobics classes. When I was talking to an acquaintance, I was discussing what would be the best aerobic exercise with the best results to shed some pounds. I was told running is the way to go. I had an experience in the past with running that I did not enjoy at all! It seemed the second I started to run, I could barely breathe. At that time I was overweight so that explains some of it but could that be the reason? I didn't think so because I know others have started running when they were overweight. I tried to run a couple of times with little success. One day some people asked if I wanted to go running with them and I agreed. When I started off with them, they were running slow. REALLY slow! So slow I thought that I could walk faster than they were running. I started to run a little faster then realized that I could actually run without breathing heavily and feeling like I was going to have a heart attack.

That was then, this leads me to my running story. I did not keep running because I really didn't have any motivation or anyone to run with. Years later after getting the advice of running to lose weight in the quickest way any cardio exercise would, I started to run. Naturally I used my experience and started running slow. I was trotting. I found a friend to go with me and we went a few times a week at first. It wasn't easy. It was hard to keep my pace and stay motivated to keep running. I joined a running club that our company sponsored and they offered free entrants into fun runs. They seemed to occur every few weekends. I started running a little more during the week to make sure that I could run decent time in the fun run and not totally embarrass myself. I signed up for my first fun run 2 weeks after I started running. It was a 5-mile run. I ran nearly the entire race until I got near the end. Running is a mind game for me and for many others. I thought the finish line was right around the corner and as soon as I turned the corner, it was nowhere in site. I stopped running and started walking. I eventually got my motivation up again and pushed myself to sprint to the finish line. It was a great feeling.

I would weigh myself nearly every day and it didn't seem like any weight would come off. I did feel like I was losing inches but no weight loss. At the 6-week mark, it was amazing! My weight started to melt away. Before I knew it, after a few months, I was down 25 pounds. My muscles were very toned and if I say so myself, I was a hot momma!

After about 2 years of running I convinced my running buddy to run the marathon with me. It was on a Thursday afternoon and I decided to run the marathon that Sunday. We somehow thought we could walk the whole thing if we wanted to. I didn't sign up for the marathon because after all, we thought it would be just something fun to do and a savings of $80 per person. The longest distance I had ran at that point was a 10k. We started the race and took our time stopping for the restroom and mostly running in the beginning because we figured we should run as long as we had the energy. It was 11 miles before we knew we had gone that far. It's amazing how much motivation the crowd gives you. They carry you through the race from start to finish. At mile 15 my friends' hamstring was bothering her so she stopped and I continued on. Surprisingly, I made it to the finish line at 5 hours & 19 minutes. I barely qualified but I did.

I don't recommend anyone run a marathon without proper training. I was lucky to not be injured. I had no problems at all but it was hard.

This story is written to help motivate those who are thinking about running and haven't made that move or perhaps for those running now with thoughts of quitting. Keep going, you can do it.