What I did on St. Patrick’s Day!

Curious…..?  I RAN and COMPLETED the Sun Trust Rock ‘n’ Roll 1/2 marathon.  Yes, I did!  I’m so proud of myself.  The challenge was there, it was met and I won! 

Running hasn’t come easy to me.  I’ve always wanted to be a runner.  In elementary school I ran a couple of races, I think it was the 100m dash; I won some ribbons, why didn’t I keep up with running?  When we lived in Saudi Arabia I started running around the block to lose weight, (I had read that running was the quickest way to lose weight-in which crazy teen magazine did I read that!) but invariable I would be sidelined by terrible stomach cramps.  The Doctor I went to couldn’t figure out why I was getting cramps while running, so I stopped running.  In High School I was considering applying for an ROTC scholarship but my then boyfriend laughed at me and said that I wouldn’t be able to handle the running.  So, several years later, I had the courage to walk into the Army ROTC office and was offered a two-year scholarship.  We had physical training three times a week and running wasn’t so bad.  I think it was the camaraderie that kept me going.  As an Army Nurse Corp Officer because of our varying shifts and schedules it was hard to coordinate organized physical training.  Instead of keeping up with running I became lazy and would only ‘power’ run two weeks before the two mile physical training test, praying that adrenalin would get me through the run.  Thankfully I always passed, but never kept up with a regular running routine.  I would get bored, or too tired…I had many excuses.  Jump to four year ago when I took a running class through the county adult education.  The class started off with four women, then dwindled down to just me!  I stuck with it, finished the class and even ran the Star Kid 8K.  But I didn’t keep up with running, I think I lasted a year.  Again, I would get bored with constantly running. 
That is until I found the Jeff Galloway run, walk, run method. About two years ago while driving in my neighborhood I saw  more and more women out running.   Older women and women that were bigger than me, I was envious,if they could do it, why not me?  I searched the web for running programs and it led me to the Jeff Galloway website. Finding out about his method has been life changing for me.  I didn't realize that I could take walking breaks and still be called a runner.  Yes, I am a runner!  I started off slowly with an interval of 30 seconds running and 30 seconds walking, slowly moving up to my current interval of 4 minutes running/1minute walking.  I know run, walk, run at least three days a week, two 5-mile runs, and one long 8-10-mile run. I don’t know why this has worked for me, but it has and I love it. I’m not bored, I look forward to my runs and I feel great after them as well!
Are you looking to start running?  Try it out…call me and we’ll run together!