Tomorrow is the Day- My Running Reflections

Ok guys. This is it. Tomorrow at exactly 8:40 am Pacific Standard Time I will be taking off to complete my first 3.75 mile race. I’m nervous, excited, proud, scared. So many emotions.

Exactly 18 weeks ago from this Monday I decided I wanted to get in shape. Cardio was going to be my sport of choice simply because I didn’t have the money for a gym membership and my dog would benefit as well.

I started jogging short distances at first. Three weeks after my start, Thanksgiving, I ran with Kellen at a local high school track. I was proud to say that day I completed 3/4 of a mile.

On December 2nd I ran my whole first mile. I was ecstatic. I remember on the ride home, I kept thinking about who I could call to celebrate with me. I called my mom and posted in here on my blog. I was so excited. That day someone who had completed the C25k commented and told me that if I was going to do the program, I should start at week four since I had already built some endurance.

The next day, I started the program. By Monday I was on Week 4, day 2. I was actually starting to like running (or at least the feeling I had afterwards).

 

On December 12 I got to take part in my first “race”- the Solstice Run. It was a one mile race. For me, it was tough. I had just gotten used to that distance and the race had quite a bit of an incline,  which I wasn’t used to. Nevertheless, I completed it with a time of 11:36.

 

By December 22, I was finishing week 5 of the program. I remember being so nervous because that 20 minutes straight of running. I did it though, and I think that was the point that I really started to break through my mental block towards running. It got easier from there.

By the end of January I was finishing up week 8 of the program and was running 28 straight minutes. I had made the mistake of measuring my distance while I was running, and was starting to get frustrated at my slow pace. But with the help of my blogger buddies, I decided to push those thoughts aside and finish the program strong.

On February 13, I finally completed the program. I was so excited, so proud of myself, and feeling better than I ever had before.

Since finishing the program, I’ve taken this last month to run for distance- my goal being 3 miles. I’ve completed it about 4 times- my fastest run being a 34:30.

I’m not sure at what point I decided I would do the St. Patty’s Day Dash. It seemed like the perfect timing for me to complete my C25k program, and give a couple of extra weeks for distance training. Plus I figured that running in this race would be such an amazing birthday present to myself.

So….here’s to tomorrow….and a lifetime of a new found passion.