I've Lost My Mind...

It's no secret that I truly believe this:


So, when Chad asked me back in May if I wanted to run the half marathon in October, I paused.

I could eat a LOT of food after running a half marathon.

I hemmed and hawed. I had always operated under the belief that "If you have to eat/drink/use the bathroom/wear special socks" when running, you are running TOO LONG."

5K's? Rock them.
10K's? Did my first in April. Loved it. Would do it again.

A half marathon? Eh.

Could someone please invent a 1/3 Marathon? That seems to be the next step in my progression.

But I do love to set goals and do get excited about meeting a good challenge, so I made the mental committment about a month or so ago to throw caution and just do it.

[And yes, Mom, I've been very cautious about watching my back and making sure we have no recurrence of Backageddon. :-)]

Training is going well, and today I ran the farthest and longest I have ever run.

 

Y'all, I know. That's a long time to run. I even look at myself funny and think, "what the h- are you doing?"

 

I want to tell you, though (and "you" being those of you who are out there thinking about running but have never tried it), that YOU can do it. You can run. You can run any distance, any length of time, anywhere. I promise.

 

Three years ago, I couldn't run to my mailbox. I didn't WANT to run to my mailbox. Much less around the neighborhood. Or gasp, on a public street.

 

But I found this amazing app...It's called Ease into 5K.

 

In 8 weeks, this app takes you from walking about 2 1/2 miles (depending on your own speed) to RUNNING a complete 3.2 miles without stopping. It starts you off easy (take a look at Week 1 Day 1).

And it goes on from there, adding more running around the walking until you are running consistently for about 25 minutes. Then, you run for distance.

It plays your own music and has a male or female voice that comes on to tell you when to walk and run and at your preferred intervals to tell you your pace, time, distance, calories, etc. (Confession: I like to pretend that it's Bob Harper cheering me on in my ear bud. Love him.)

I went on to buy the Ease into 10K to help me with my 10K training and now I use that app to record my long distances and to keep my pace in check.

I promise you when I say "I was never a runner." And I can probably pretty much still say that I don't consider running "a hobby." But I do like the workout, and I am pretty psyched about checking this half marathon off my bucket list. Well, if I had a bucket list and if I ever actually would have thought to add "half marathon" on said list.

So, thinking about running? Keep thinking about it. But download the Ease into 5K app first and think about it while you are walking.

Meanwhile, I think I need to go start a bucket list...