Simply put my athletic skills have increased dramatically since moving to DC. I have always enjoyed the gym, yoga, pilates, boxing, rowing, and my hip hop dance. But training and running have been a very different experience. College is the time I would say I actually started to care about my health and weight. I had access to the gym and went with my roommates, had fun it was never anything I felt I had to do but I simply just had fun, and it also became much easier to work out when I quit smoking. During my engagement was about the time I actually would run a mile as I was unemployed and didn't always have access to a gym. Running at that time did great things for my body and I think I looked great on my wedding day but it wasn't something that brought joy,pain and endurance. I remember Jeremiah was living in Laural and I would do sprints with him on the hot suburban streets of maryland and I wanted to die. It was a constant struggle. I felt like I kept saying " what is the point of running or working out its just something to do to get by and stay healthy". Of course I have stayed active and Jeremiah and I would run around our house.. but always no more than 2 miles. The reason I never did more than 2 is because I didn't think I could, but my desire to do more was.
Being in DC and living near the Mall you see runners non-stop all day long. The first week we moved here I kept saying " lets run to the monuments!" forgetting thats not possible .. but the desire was there. After Jeremiahs summer of injury where we did lots of nature walks around our house, he choose to train for his triathlon. I thought since we have ran many times together and I want to be able to run to the monuments I should just train with him and see what I am made of. I ran every mile with him side by side until his race day. We would run along the potomac up the canal and we also ran to the monuments. The first time we ran to the memorial bridge we watched the sunset and ran down the steps we both felt in awe. We knew this was my goal and I had completed it. We ran to the Washington monument right before our 2 year wedding anniversary and that felt like we had completed this other goal, of running further and further down the mall. Our longest run in the training was in Virginia along the Potomac down to the 14th street bridge. It was beating hot and we were out there for an hour and a half but we did it. At that moment I said I believe I can run a race. We did squeeze in a a 5K, but I felt like it wasn't that big of a deal because at the time I was running 10-12 miles a week. It was more exciting to just run a race and know that I could run a longer one. My fear was running with tons of people, but I was able to just focus on myself as a runner should. Training with Jeremiah taught me running for endurance is really running endurance. I had to train myself to start slow, keep the pace, breathe right, have the correct posture and most importantly I met brooke the athlete. I pushed myself beyond my mental capacity and really focused on my athletic skill rather then how I looked. I had to learn to fuel my body before during and after my run. I had to learn to have active recovery days and not overwork my body. I learned to see what my body was made of.
Knowing about this half marathon has been the running chatter for the last month. I have been thinking I am keeping my endurance up but I want to celebrate in a run. A run of my accomplishment of how far I have come since Febuary, and even those college gym days. I feel I can do many things now. They say when you train for a race it transpires into other parts of your life. I have seen that in the last 7 months and I am proud to say this is my race now. I really am running a race. Scared Brooke who in kindergarten cried herself off the soccer team because she didn't want to sweat, is running a race.
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