When I thought about writing this I tried to remember what got me into running in the first place. Honestly, I can't pin point one particular thing that made me start. I remember thinking that people who ran for fun were cool, I thought it would be a great way to keep my weight down, I thought that running races in various parts of the world would be awesome but to actually get out and run was a whole other story.
I first laced up about 6 or 7 years ago. I got my first pair of running shoes and started small with just one mile. My legs, feet and back hurt so much during my run that I would grimace with each step. I couldn't walk comfortably for days after each run. But I kept trying and the for six months or so, the more I tried it seemed the worse I felt. How do people do this all the time? Did anyone else experience this pain? After close to a year of running, I stopped. There was no sense in hurting myself just to be able to get fit. I'm not sure how long my break was but I couldn't stop thinking about running for the entire break. I was bitten by the running bug and I had to keep on trying.
There were periods of time when I consistently ran for months but then I would stop due to pain or overall boredom from running the same routes over and over again. Most importantly I wasn't good about my diet which for lack of a better word, SUCKED! Though I was a vegetarian at the time I still ate a lot of sweets and drank alcohol. I was being counterproductive and hurting my body by making poor food choices. Of course I didn't make that connection at the time and I simply couldn't understand why running was so difficult. So I took another long break.
After my wife gave birth to our youngest over a year ago, I consciously made the decision to work on my eating habits. I started eating meat again, but only poultry and fish. I had a food journal where I wrote EVERYTHING down that I ate each day and I stopped drinking alcohol. Running was calling me again but I wasn't ready to strike up the relationship just yet. I did P90X and Insanity workouts to start getting my body back in gear. Things were looking great and I knew it was only a matter of time before I would get back on the pavement.
New baby and a sudden move proved to be my two Achilles heels and all of my hard work was thrown out the window. If any of you have gone through either one of these you know about the stress that each change brings. And if you had to deal with both of them at the same time, as I did, then you probably are wondering how you didn't pull your hair out during that time. Me too! This was the perfect time for the running voice to whisper to me because I needed an outlet to release some anxiety and stress. So once again, two months after our move with a six month-old and right before Thanksgiving, I laced up. This time I would stick with it.
Suddenly, as if a switch went off somewhere in my body, the aches were no longer present. I could run without pain. I even started to feel good DURING a run! Now I was running on a regular basis. There were even times when I experienced a runner's high and it was amazing. I entered my first race which was a half marathon and couldn't believe that I actually did it! My weekly runs increased from fours days a week to six and after the half I ran 15 miles a couple of times just to see if I could do it. I was officially a runner.
While I do want to run in races my overall goal is to make running my life. I'm fortunate that I have a supportive family who encourages me to run. We've all become a healthier and happier family simply because I get out and move my legs. Another goal I want to achieve is to become a certified running coach. I want to be able to work with other people who have been in the same place that I was. The place where you think you can't run or running is too hard or that you'll never be able to eat healthy cause it's too expensive or too much work. Once I made those life changes I believe that I finally met the real me. And it was all because of running.
No comments:
Post a Comment