My History

So here marks the beginning of my journey. I have an 18 week training guide that I plan on following each day, each week. Before I get started in my running, here is a brief history of my running experience:

When I moved to Park Forest, I was entering the 7th grade. I had never really played any sports, and being that I was the new kid; my mom thought it would be a good way for me to make friends if I joined the cross country team. It couldn't be that hard, I thought. I was a kid, had lots of energy, and the running couldn't be that far! Well, let me tell you that it was definitely a struggle. Go figure that I was always the last one done with practice each day, as I would come running up to the building a good while after everyone else. However, I thought that I would give it a chance and decide if I wanted to keep doing it after the first meet.

So, naturally the first meet came around much quicker than I anticipated it. I'm on the starting line and "GO"! I'm running, and at this point feeling pretty good about myself. I'm passing people, not getting tired and really believing that I could do it. When all of the sudden... I need air. I'm totally winded and realizing that I started the race WAY to fast and now I have nothing left. So I walk for a little bit. No one was around to see me. Then, they all came running behind, nope, now alongside, nope now in front of me... at this point, I could see the last stretch of grass, probably 100 yards away. I hear footsteps behind me and who is it? None other than 3 girls that I had passed before. They ran past me and then stopped. They decided that they were going to walk with me to the finish line. I of course was humiliated and eventually finished the race. Needless to say, that was the end of my cross country career.

In college, about my jr/sr year, when I realized that I had gained about 25 pounds, I decided that I needed to do something about it. I would go to the gym and pound out a mile a day, sometimes two. Eventually I got the point where running 3 miles was about it. But I was comfortable with that. While in Oklahoma, I had the opportunity to run a 5k with a friend and that was fun and rewarding. Since then, I have incorporated running into my daily workouts, whether it is one, two or maybe three miles. I would by no means consider myself a good runner, but it has been something I have overcome and want to make a commitment to making it easier, and more pleasurable.

So, here starts my long embark of Mission: Marathon.