Since it's the start of a new year, I'll be reflecting on the past year and looking forward to all that 2013 has in store in a couple of posts. First I'll talk about my biggest fitness (and life for that matter) accomplishments of 2012! It's when I knew I was a runner, even though I'm still shy to call myself that!
My biggest fitness accomplishment of 2012 is when I ran my first half marathon this past September at the Philly Rock and Roll Half Marathon. It was my “aha” moment of running. I have the common story of being an athlete in high school but then gained the freshman fifteen due to lack of exercise, poor food choices, and alcohol.
Summer of 2011 I decided to get on a treadmill to get back in shape, but was stunned to find I could barely run a mile. I signed up for a local 5K in October to keep myself motivated, and after that first race, I fell in love with running. However even though I got involved with it as a hobby with my gear and running 4x a week, I never thought of myself as a runner because I thought I wasn’t good enough or wasn't winning races.
Summer of 2011 I decided to get on a treadmill to get back in shape, but was stunned to find I could barely run a mile. I signed up for a local 5K in October to keep myself motivated, and after that first race, I fell in love with running. However even though I got involved with it as a hobby with my gear and running 4x a week, I never thought of myself as a runner because I thought I wasn’t good enough or wasn't winning races.
For my first half marathon my only goal was to finish in under 2 hours. Even though I had run the cherry blossom 10 miler earlier that year faster than I thought I would, I still was scared about running the longest distance I had ever run. I had only trained up to 11.5 miles up to the point of race day. I made a shirt that said “I’m the fast girl your mother warned you about” (my new unofficial slogan now) and was so excited when the weather was great. I was so nervous and around mile 8 my legs started to feel it but I pushed it out and felt on top of the world when I crossed the finish line in front of the Philadelphia Art Museum in 1:48:24!
I was so elated afterwards and downed about 3 water bottles and some snacks when I finally met up with my boyfriend. He was so excited I met my sub-2 goal (not that he doubted me!). He was hugging me and telling me how proud he was of me when I started crying instantly. This fit of sobbing just came on out of nowhere. I don’t know what triggered it but can assume it was an emotional release of happiness, stress, and pride.
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