RUNNING :: MY JOURNEY

what an amazing weekend! mitch and I indulged in a real date friday night, I completed running ten miles saturday afternoon, and somehow I convinced mitch to watch movies with me the rest of the night since I couldn't get up and move around without waddling. sunday, mitch and I went for an afternoon drive after church and decided that pancakes were a sufficient sunday dinner only to end up making crêpes for dessert four hours later. we believe in redundancy in this house. 

this past friday, I mentioned I'd be focusing primarily on health and fitness during the month of august since I will be running my third half-marathon coming up on the twenty-third. so I thought I'd begin with telling you a brief rendition of how I got my start in the world of running ::

I was not always a runner, believe me. I distinctly remember attempting to run around my block in high school and having to  slow to a walk after about 100 meters in. I remember finishing a 5k in 50 minutes. I remember a 9-minute mile being a prerequisite for the volleyball team and only making it by a hair, leaving me on the verge of vomiting for the rest of practice. I remember countless instances when I had to explain to my friends, "I am just not a runner." 

slowly...

my journey to becoming a runner was a little bit like falling asleep. slowly and then all at once. in the summer of 2011, right before I got married, my then-boyfriend-now-husband walked me into my first lululemon store in edmonton, alberta. this was the ignition. I loved the vibe inside and wanted a reason to wear all of that cute activewear. we got married that september and other than peeking at their online store here and there, I didn't think about running much more. in the winter of 2012, my husband and I moved to california for his internship. I was nannying for this cute little family by night leaving my days pretty much wide open. the woman I was nannying for was fairly fit and active and probably one of the most influential people along my road to runnerdom. she was running long miles--eight, nine, ten mile runs. this seemed an impossible feat to my pathetic pair of lungs..and legs. I remember asking her how she got her start in running and she gave me some invaluable advice :: she said she would run away from her house for as many miles as she could. just when she thought she couldn't run anymore, she had to turn around and run her way home because her legs were the only vehicle that would get her there. this inspired me to start going running in the mornings, but I was out of steam before I even got to the end of her block. defeated, I would walk home again proclaiming, "I am not a runner." months later, we moved back to idaho and I began looking at fitness blogs, at pinterest, at different races I would like to run someday. but I wasn't any closer to my goal because I was only wishing, not working.

...and then all at once.

while I was wishing ( and brainstorming ), I expressed my desire to start running to my husband, my friends, my family. for my next birthday, my husband bought me a new pair of running shoes and I received a garmin running watch from my dad. now, I'm a very sentimental person and because the two most important men in my life invested in me, I began investing in myself. I remember running alone on the campus track the next day and going out of my wits with boredom. a few nights later, I was talking to a good friend about running and running races but how running alone just wasn't working for me. she empathized and it's all a little fuzzy now, but we decided to partner up and work our way toward a half-marathon. our first run was three miles and we adopted the 'run three minutes, walk two' philosophy. this worked out pretty great, actually. our miles were long, but it was the best I had ever done. we kept with it..those shoes and that watch reminding me that in a way, I owed it to my husband, my dad, myself. after a month of training, we ran a 5k and finished in 30 minutes, 33 seconds. we were pretty chuffed with ourselves. a month and half later, we ran a 10k in the snow finishing in under an hour. when most of the snow had cleared, we began again with the advice my fit, californian friend had given us--running away as far as we could go, and then making our legs carry us home. in the summer of 2013, we ran our first half-marathon ( 13.1 miles ) finishing in just under two hours. since then, that epic running buddy and I have moved apart geographically, but have continued running races and checking up with each other ever since.

because of running...

...I am confident that I can do hard things. it certainly wasn't an easy, amiable road. it was full of pot holes in the form of side cramps, sore ankles, sore hips, black toes, fatigue, weariness. it had its fair share of detours, only one of which in the form of a believed-to-be torn meniscus in my right knee. thankfully, it was only a minor it band issue and with a small bout of physical therapy, it was resolved. on the other side of that coin, I can run eight, nine, ten miles with lots of sweat and steady lungs. my legs, bum, even my back are stronger than they have ever been. I'm a healthy weight. I even majored in healthy food and fitness because it was something I yearned to weave into every aspect of my life. I have something that's mine apart from my husband, my friends, my family. I have a place I can go to think clearly and not be judged. and now, I can earnestly explain to my friends, "I'm a runner."

furthermore ::

I find that running is only easy for the few. for the majority of us, it is the hard road that I depicted above. however, I have also found that the benefits are for anyone ( who doesn't have a prohibitive physiological disability ). at school, I have seen my clients improve their resting heart rate, their blood pressure, their body fat index, their weight, and overall confidence because they began walking, then running one mile a day. and that is a seriously beautiful thing. I have seen these clients lose weight and inches, as well as reverse hypertension and type two diabetes. if you find your joints just can't handle it, I suggest swimming as a near-perfect alternative.

a few words of advice  ::

put forth a monetary investment. 

find a buddy.

get your shoes fitted.

pop-tarts are the enemy.

drink more water than you think is possible.

download a killer playlist.

take it outside, if possible.

say a prayer.

creamies are the best post-run food ever created.

in no way am I an expert. after all, I came home from my run saturday afternoon with locked out hips because 10 miles is still a crazy long ways. but I hope all of you found a few worthwhile words in my own journey toward becoming a runner. how do you guys feel about running? if you run already, how did you find your start? I would love to know. just leave your story in the comments. as always, I am so ever grateful for those of you who read this blog. have an outstanding monday, y'all! if the rest of august is going to be anywhere near as good as this past weekend, I am expecting one really fantastic month!

love, arielle