Where to Begin

I began my “official” running journey a year and a half ago.  I had always played sports, a Tom Boy if you will.  I started running to lose weight after my freshman year of college.  I was determined to not gain the freshman 15, rather lose it.  I took summer classes and stayed at my family’s shore house.  I was down there alone during the week so my schedule was school and running.  Although I played field hockey, I hated running.  Something changed that summer.  I started to really enjoy it.  Before I knew it was out there running 4 miles straight!  I stayed on that path for about a month or two and then running became more of an occasional thing.  That was until I heard that Disney had a Princess Half Marathon.  I’m a huge Disney fan, and what girl wouldn’t want to be a “princess” for a day.  So I signed up for that race the moment registration opened.  I knew I didn’t have to start training until 2-3 months before the race, but of course I started (again with the emphasis on occasional).  When it was time to get serious, I got serious.  I made a plan and stuck with it the best I could.  I always did my weekend long runs.  I may have slacked off on my couple short weekday runs, but running in the cold and snow was new to me.  I guess I’ll add that I hate treadmills and I do not belong to a gym.  The time came in February 2013 to head down to Disney, a mother daughter trip!  We did the 5K together, mostly walking because she’s not a runner.  And the next day was my day to shine.  I knew I wasn’t fast and I had a plan to just have fun.  I wanted to stop at the character and take pictures and enjoy my accomplishment of running 13.1 miles.  I think my time was somewhere around 3:30, but I held that medal with so much pride.  I had done something I never thought I could or would do.  I got home a couple days later and immediately began looking up more half marathons to do.  I found one in Atlantic City just about six weeks away.  I jumped back into training; this one was going to be for time.  The day came and went and I wanted to finish under 2:30.  What was my official time, 2:28!  Although I had so much fun I decided to take some time off from running, so I could enjoy it again (training does get tedious for new runners, I think).  We had a hot, hot summer so I wasn’t out there too much.  Then the race bug hit again in November.  I found a new half coming to Philadelphia in March 2104.  My boyfriend convinced me to register and here I am starting my training all over again.  I found an app so I have a new plan this time around.  I’ll have no problem switching back to my old one if need be, but I figured I’d try it out.  This time around I’m going to try and focus more on nutrition to see if that helps me.