First time for everything

There are people in this world that love to run, that are built for speed or distance, that running comes naturally to- I am certainly not one of those people. I find running awkward, even painful. I lose pace, I struggle to catch my breath, my stride is that of a 5'2" girl when I am actually 5'10". For a girl that loves fitness, I am as little of a runner as you can be. So naturally, I have been training for a 1/2 marathon. To me its not a challenge unless its overcoming an obstacle. Me not being a runner, is sort of a large obstacle.

In a 1/2 marathon training regimen, they recommend to first be able to run non-stop for 30 minutes, any distance. It took me a couple weeks, but I checked that off the list and began to hit the road timing my runs for time and distance. What I found was that for me to run consecutive miles, I was pacing out at about 10 minutes a mile. I was even less of a runner than I thought! Running sounded much less entertaining when I felt I was not good at it. So I had to change my attitude. Forcing myself to run was going to make me better. Sounds fun right? Well, amazingly it became fun fast. Each run becomes a challenge. And I always make sure to change up the routine. On the days I cannot handle the wind in Boston, I move it onto the treadmill, up the incline to 1.0 (because no incline is set to running downhill on most treadmills), put my headphones in and zone out to whatever show is on tv at the gym. Its a different feeling then the road (or running the paths of the Charles river in Boston), but sometimes I need a re-run of Friends to get me through the miles and you can't carry a tv around the river without running the risk of falling in.

Today, I didn't need a tv to get me to complete my mileage. I ran my first ever 5k race (or 3.1 miles if you are American). It was the best motivator I could have. I wanted to beat my personal best as much as wanting to fly by the other racers. Finding a pace was my challenge as I completed the first mile in a personal record breaking 8 minutes! After that first mile, I had to fall into a more reasonable pace closing the race in 27:57. Another personal record. For not being a runner, the feeling of beating a personal best is better than the first bite of a hot chocolate souffle, and to find something besides food that gives me that feeling (and is good for my body) is not something I plan on quitting anytime soon.