Run, Mommy, Run!

I'm putting this in my blog so I have to do it.

What is "it"?

I've registered to run a half marathon.

Next month.

It's not as crazy as it sounds. I ran my first half marathon in April of last year. I ran my second half in the fall. I know I can do it. The problem is, since it has become so flipping cold I have not been running. I'm hoping by putting it in this blog, I will be more motivated to do it.

I would love to motivate someone else to run, too. If you think you can't, I beg to differ. I'm not saying you will be able to run a half marathon next month. I wasn't able to run a half marathon one month after I started running. I just started running and figured it out from there.

Here is my story:
I was active pretty much my entire life until I got pregnant with my second child. I took off a couple of years and when my son was about two I went back to aerobics classes. My husband started running a few years ago and I thought he was crrraaazzzy. I had tried running for exercise before. I hated it. I'd read about the "runner's high" and so badly wanted to find that. I couldn't. So, I quit every time. Then, he said he was going to run a half marathon and I really thought he lost it. Why would someone want to spend that amount of time running? I had other things to do. Not only would he have to spend a couple hours on race day running, he would have to spend hours and hours training for race day. Then I saw him lose a lot of weight. Plus, he could exercise whenever he wanted, wherever he was. I also figured, if he could do it, so could I. He was NEVER active. He WAS NOT an athlete. If he could run, why couldn't I?

I decided to join him on his half marathon in Memphis. I would run a 5K. I started by running around my neighborhood. On my first run I hated it. I thought "This is why I don't run, it's so boring!!" My husband lent me his iPod. It made a huge difference. If I didn't have that, I'm sure I would have quit. I ran the 5K and felt really good about it. Then I saw some of the people who crossed the finish line of the half marathon and my competitiveness kicked in. I was not going to run only a 5K if they were running a half marathon.

I decided on that day that I would try to run a half. It was December. I ran my half in April. I ran super slow but I did it. I finished and I ran the whole thing. I was (and am) really proud of myself. I could not have done it without my husband's support or an iPod. One other thing that was hugely helpful is a GPS watch. I gave one to my husband for his birthday before he ran his first half. He shared it with me and it helped me pace myself. One problem I used to have was that I would run too fast, too early and get worn out. Plus, the GPS gave an estimate of how many calories you burn. I remember during one of my first long runs the calories burned was over 1000. That's a lot of calories.

So, I consider myself a runner now. I think you could be one, too.