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I'm running into the sun but I'm...

Monday, June 25, 2012

Do one thing every day that scares you
-Eleanor Roosevelt

I guess that has pretty much been the theme of my past six months. It perfectly describes my mid-life crisis. I'm tired of being safe! Shortly after deciding to run a half marathon, I decided that if I made it, I'd get a tattoo to commemorate it. It wasn't a spur of the moment idea. I have been contemplating a tattoo for about ten years now. But I was being SAFE. I didn't know what to get or where. This race was the perfect excuse.

I'm running a 5k on Friday night. It's hard to imagine that I am running "short" runs of 2, 3, and 4 miles this week. It hasn't been that long ago that I thought I could NEVER run 4 miles! One goal of my mid-life crisis achieved. A sense of achievement!

Sunday, June 24, 2012

Wait.  Let's stop and rewind: 

Okay. It was never easy for me.  I was born a poor black child. I remember the days, sittin' on the porch with my family, singin' and dancin' down in Mississippi.

Not that far.

I took up running in the Spring of 2010.  I had regularly been walking about 2 miles on an average of 4 to 5 times per week.  So, when the running bug hit, I thought it would be easy!  My first run was about 1/8 mile and I was completely out of breath.  I just decided I would plug away at it and go a little further each time.  By August (with the help of my daughter) I ran my first 2 mile race.  

About this same time, my hometown announced that they would be holding their first ever marathon during the summer of 2012.  It was a nagging thought - could I really do it?

Over the next 1 1/2 years, reality set in.  I could not run a marathon but MAYBE I could do a 1/2 Marathon!  So, just after the first of the year in 2012, I signed up.  I knew that paying the money would keep me accountable.  

I found a 12 week Couch to Half Marathon training guide online and decided to extend it to about 24 weeks.  I basically doubled each week's long run.

More on my training soon....

Thursday, June 21, 2012

Wow!  What a crazy spiral!  This past January, I signed up for my first half marathon.  I trained for six months and this past Sunday, I made it a reality!  I finished my first half marathon!  My time was 2:36.  I was really hoping for under 2:30 but I learned some valuable lessons in those 6 minutes that I lost.  More on those later.

The next day, I got my first tattoo to commemorate my event.  I am proud of the time and effort that I put forth and wanted to have a permanent record on the body that I put through so much hell!






My goal with this blog is just to "journal" about my training and future runs.  They won't all be half marathons!